DAILY READINGS FOR LENT 



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Sin and Our Saviour 



FORTY SERIOUS SERMONS 

FOR 

FORTY SERIOUS DAYS. 






By Rev. J. S. Hartzell, M. A. 



SEP 12 i895 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 
The Young Churchman Co. % * 

1895. 



x 



1^ 



Copyright. 

THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO. 

1895. 



Contents. 



Ash Wednesday. " Sanctify a Fast." - 7 

Second Day of Lent. ' k Where Art Thou ? " - 12 

Third Day of Lent. Sin. -------- 17 

Fourth Day of Lent. Original Sin, Sins of Omission and 

Commission. --------- 23 

First Sunday in Lent. 

Fifth Day of Lent. Sins of Habit. ------ 29 

Sixth Day of Lent. Sins of Character. - 35 

Seventh Day of Lent. The Besetting Sin. 41 

Eighth Day of Lent. Sins which Crucify Christ. - 47 

Ninth Day of Lent. Death. ------- 53 

Tenth Day of Lent. Judgment. ..---- 60 

Second Sunday in Lent. 

Eleventh Day of Lent. Eternity. ------ 66 

Twelfth Day of Lent. Self-Examination. - 73 

Thirteenth Day of Lent. Repentance. ----- 78 

Fourteenth Day of Lent. Consciousness and Confession of 

Sins. - 83 

Fifteenth Day of Lent. Self-Consecration. 89 
Sixteenth Day of Lent. "Son of David, have mercy on 

me!" - 94 

Third Sunday in Lent. 
Seventeenth Day of Lent. "A Friend of Publicans and Sin- 
ners." ----99 

Eighteenth Day of Lent. Jesus the High Priest. - - 105 



CONTENTS. 



Nineteenth Day of Lent. Jestis the Good Shepherd. - - 110 

Twentieth Day of Lent. Jesus at the Door. - 115 

Twenty-first Day of Lent. Jesus the Water of Life. - - 121 

Twenty-second Day of Lent. Jesus the True Vine. - - 126 

Fourth Sunday in Lent. 

Twenty-third Day of Lent. Jesus the Bread of Life. - - 131 

Twenty-fourth Day of Lent. The Church. - - - 137 

Twenty-fifth Day of Lent. Holy Baptism. - 145 

Twenty-sixth Day of Lent. Examination and Eating. - 151 

Twenty-seventh Day of Lent. "In Remembrance of Me." - 155 

Twenty-eighth Day of Lent. In the Upper Chamber. - 161 

Fifth Sunday in Lent. 

Twenty-ninth Day of Lent. Gethsemane. - 167 

Thirtieth Day of Lent. Watching with Christ. - - 173 

Thirty-first Day of Lent. Betraying Christ. - 179 

Thirty-second Day of Lent. The Denial. - 185 

Thirty-third Day of Lent. The Mockery. .... 190 

Thirty-fourth Day of Lent. "Behold the Man." - - 196 

Sixth Sunday in Lent. 

Thirty-fifth Day of Lent. Carrying the Cross. - - - 201 

Thirty-sixth Day of Lent. The Sorrow. - 207 

Thirty-seventh Day of Lent. The Desolation. - - - 213 

Maundy Thursday. The Passion. 218 

Good Friday. The Death. - 223 

Easter Even. In Paradise. - - - - , - - - 228 



Preface. 



THESE Lectures are a growth. They were delivered in differ- 
ent parishes and in successive years, each time with some 
additions and improvements. Some thoughts and materials were 
culled here and there, and woven into the fabric; and in such a 
way that at this day it is impossible for me to tell which is so 
gathered. This general acknowledgement is all I can make, except 
that I must state I am especially indebted to the Lent Manuals of 
Bishop W. W. How, Edersheim's Life of Christ, Manning's Ser- 
mons, Massilon's Conferences, A'Kempis' Imitation of Christ, 
Giles' Sufferings of Christ, DuBose's Soteriology of the New Testa- 
ment, the Writings of the Apostolic Fathers, and to "Mercers- 
burg Theology and Philosophy " which has furnished me with the 
groundwork of my dogmatic conceptions. 

Thev are now published in obedience to the expressed wishes 
of many who heard the Lectures delivered ; with the prayer that 
they may be blessed of God and a blessing to others. 

J. S. Hartzell, 

Rector of Christ Church, 

Mt. Pleasant, S. C. 
The Rectory, May 4th, 1895. 



Sin and Our Saviour. 



ASH WEDNESDAY. 
Sanctify a Fast. 
Sanctify a Fast.— Joel ii. 15. 

THE law of Moses, and the Sacred Year of the 
Jewish Church, prescribed numerous days and 
seasons of fasting and humiliation. But in times of 
distress or calamity, or in times of national disobedi- 
ence and apostacy, special seasons of fasting were 
declared by the holy Prophets, that thereby the anger 
of God might be turned, and He repent Him of the 
evil and leave a blessing behind Him. 

The great annual season of Fasting under "the 
Law and the Prophets " was " the time of the Pass- 
over/ ' which commemorated the Day of Expiation. 
The Christian Church, adopting the idea from the 
Jewish Passover, preceded by its solemn season of 
fasting, celebrates the holy joys of Easter after a 
Forty Days of Lenten fasting. 

What authority has the Christian Church for 
this? Our Saviour Christ nowhere prescribes fast- 
ing, one might say. No. But He more than pre- 
scribes it. As a Jew, and as One who was come to 
fulfil all the law and the prophets, He Himself kept 
all the fasts of the Jewish Ecclesiastical Year ; and 



SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 



He gave His disciples rules how they, the first fruits 
of the Christian Church, and the foundations on 
which that Church was built, should observe a fast. 
" When ye fast," said He, implying by His language 
that our Lord not only expected but took for granted 
that His disciples would fast. 

He Himself faithfully kept all the fasts which His 
Father in Heaven had prescribed for His Jewish 
Church ; and He gave His Apostles and Stewards of 
the Christian mysteries rules how they should fast. 
Thus it has come that the Christian Church has 
always observed seasons of fasting and prayer, and 
has disciplined her children by special abstinence, 
humiliation, and mortification of the body to pre- 
pare the spirit for the transcendent joys of Easter. 

We are again within the threshold of this Great 
Fast, and the Epistle for this day — a day next to 
Good Friday the greatest Fast day in the Christian 
year — bids us " Sanctify a Fast;" while the Gospel 
warns us not to fast ostentatiously but humbly and 
in secret, ever mindful of the searching Eye of One 
who seeth in secret. Its story of sadness and suffer- 
ing appeals to us most eloquently to do for Him, as 
far as human weakness can, what He has so merci- 
fully done for us. 

The question, then, for us all is, How shall we keep 
Lent? 

It is a season especially appropriate for self-exam- 
ination — for looking inwardly upon the heart and 
seriously, earnestly, prayerfully studying its charac- 
ter. We constantly confess to Almighty God that 
" we have left undone those things which we ought 
to have done, and have done those things which we 



ASH WEDNESDAY. 



ought not to have done"— but we never, perhaps, for 
a moment stop to consider what those omissions and 
commissions are which we confess, nor recount them 
with contrite sorrow and full purpose of amendment 
and new obedience. We confess, and that is all. We 
do not strive to overcome the evil or to amend the 
fault. Let us now look upon ourselves, sensible of 
God's displeasure for our sins, that, knowing our 
misdeeds we correct them, so "that the rest of our 
life hereafter may be pure and holy." 

So also is it a season for self-denial. Pleasures 
and amusements, appetites and desires are all to be 
curtailed and disciplined — holding in subjection the 
body, suffering if needs be, so that the world may be 
brought to our feet and the soul rise above earthly 
thoughts and cares ; not indeed as Christ did in the 
wilderness, for an abstinence that is beyond human 
endurance is not required of us ; but rigid self-denial 
of all that is not consistent with the spirit of this 
Lenten season, self-denial of all that is not in har- 
mony with the solemnities of these Fort3 r Days, 
is required of God's faithful children. To bear the 
Cross of Christ is first to deny ourselves. 

Every self-denial is a sacrifice. So the season of 
Lent demands that we should sacrifice, not only 
pleasures and desires of every sort, but ourselves as 
well. Indeed, "the mercies of God beseech us that 
we present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and 
acceptable unto God" at all times, but especially so 
in Lent, because it is the season that commemorates 
Christ's Sacrifice for our sins. 

So is it a season of humiliation, — a season in 
which we humble ourselves before God, " acknowledg- 



10 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

ing our wretchedness and lamenting our sins." While 
we no longer observe the ancient custom of putting 
on sackcloth and covering the head with ashes, still in 
spirit these customs must be observed. What we no 
longer show in dress and appearance we are still to 
feel in the heart. That self-abasement which we no 
longer manifest outwardly, Ave must still practice 
inwardly, "that we appear not unto men to fast, 
but unto our Father which is in secret, that our 
Father which seeth in secret, may reward us openfy." 
Renouncing our sins which we lament, and condemn- 
ing ourselves for committing those sins, we turn to 
the Lord our God " with all our heart, and with fast- 
ing and with weeping, and with mourning," rending 
our hearts and not our garments ; then in the solemn 
hour we shall hear the sweet Voice from above speak- 
ing peace to our souls, and by divine grace we shall 
receive from God the new and contrite hearts which 
we pray for. 

Thus, with Christ, our Example, we go into retire- 
ment for a while to be tempted, and thereby to learn 
obedience and gain a spiritual victory over the world 
without and the body within ; and then come forth 
at the dawn of Easter, bringing the offering of a 
sanctified fast, and a victorious soul, and a submis- 
sive body. Throughout entire Lent we have Him, 
our Example, before our eyes. We follow Him in His 
Temptation, and remember "He was tempted like 
as we are yet without sin," and for our sakes over- 
came. We accompany Him in His sufferings, and 
remember that those sufferings were endured for us. 
Doing good and preaching the Gospel of the new 
Kingdom, yet tempted, despised, rejected, the judg- 



ASH WEDNESDAY. 11 



ment hall, the mockery, the thorns, the Cross come 
to view, and a sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying 
Saviour — our sins, our Saviour. With all this before 
our eyes we enter Lent with the determination, by 
self-examination and discipline to become more 
Christ-like, following in His footsteps, learning more 
of Him, doing more of His will, loving Him more, 
and thus, step by step, becoming more like Him in 
meekness, purity, obedience and holiness. 

But alas ! alas ! Lord, mayest Thou not sa} r to 
some of us: "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do 
not the things which I say? " We should, therefore, 
in all our Lenten discipline, have the one thought and 
desire of worshipping God more sincerely, and of 
increasing our devotion to Him. We should aim, 
by a more rigid discipline of the body, to serve God 
more faithfully in spirit, — not, however, at the end of 
this dear season of Lent to return to the world with 
re-enforced and redoubled energies to hold high carni- 
val with the pleasures w^hich are but for a time ; but 
that by a fast of the body in things earthly, we may 
enjoy a feast of the soul in things heavenly ; that by 
a fast of the flesh in things carnal and worldly, we 
may have a feast of the spirit in things spiritual and 
eternal, — a bodily fast and a spiritual feast, which 
will carry their benefits into the other seasons of the 
Church year, and prove by our better life hereafter 
that this Lent has been well kept, and the humble 
prayer of the penitent heart, i4 Make me a clean heart, 
God, and renew a right spirit within me," has been 
trulv answered. 



SECOND DAY OF LENT. 

Where Art Thou? 

And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, 
Where art thou! — Genesis iii. 9. 

ADAM had been made in God's image and likeness, 
. and for God's pleasure and delight. He walked 
with God ; he talked with God ; he communed with 
God in happy speech out of a loving heart. God loved 
the man He had made ; Adam loved God. There was 
a devoted fellowship between them; an intercourse 
and communion next only to that between the angels 
and their God. Adam not only lived for, but lived 
in, his Creator; and, in return, God poured into 
Adam's mouth unnumbered blessings, and into his 
heart unbounded love. 

But, alas! when God called, all was changed. 
There lay a cloud upon Adam's heart, and upon 
God's. Instead of walking boldly out to " seek after 
God, if haply he may find Him," he shrinks from 
God, and slinks away, hiding himself, as he supposed, 
among the leaves and bushes. Why this conduct? 
What has Adam done? "I was afraid, and hid my- 
self," said he. Why afraid of God, who is all love 
and tenderness and sweetness ? Why hide from Him 
whose presence is not only paradise but heaven? 
Why that feeling of fear and shame — why that sense 
of guilt and feeling of remorse and anguish of soul, 



SECOXD DAY OF LEXT. 13 

which Adam showed by concealing himself from the 
sound of God's voice and the searching glance of 
God's eye? Had he forgotten that God is Omni- 
scient, "who knoweth all things, and needeth not 
that any man should tell Him," "unto whom all 
hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom 
no secrets are hid ? " 

Yet, to him, in the cool of the day — not in ignor- 
ance, but in disappointment, in pity, in anger — came 
the penetrating cry : ' ' Where art thou ? " — thou, 
whom I made in My own image, and for My glory — 
thou, whom I trusted, and in whom I delighted — 
thou, upon whom I poured My best gifts, the bless- 
ings out of My hand and the love out of My heart — 
thou, whom I pronounced good, and whom I created 
for My fellowship — " Where art thou ? " Out of the 
bushes comes the faltering, fear-smitten reply : " I was 
afraid, and I hid myself.' ' It was the only answer he 
could give, and it betrayed the sin of his soul. " By 
one man sin entered into the world, and death by 
sin." "In Adam all die," and, in consequence, "the 
whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain to- 
gether until now." "Yea, the earth mourneth and 
fadeth away." "All the foundations of the earth are 
out of course." He became the slave of sin, the vic- 
tim of sickness and bodily pain and anguish of 
heart, of evil temper and cruel lusts ; and the unborn 
millions of his posterity the inheritors of his de- 
praved, lapsed and apostate nature. 

We all know the consequences of Adam's sin too 
well. It is not merely a matter of knowledge, but of 
daily experience. You and I are among those millions 
of inheritors of Adam's sinful nature and enslaved 



14 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

heart. You and I are his sons in sin as well as in the 
flesh. We carry the marred image and corrupted 
likeness of Adam in our hearts, and show it in our 
lives. We have sinned, we have sinned, Ave have 
grievously sinned against God, by thought, word, 
and deed. Not only to-day, and yesterday, and the 
day before, have we — you and I — done this evil and 
committed that offence, fallen into this temptation 
and into that sin, but our whole life — yours and 
mine — has been one of spiritual blindness and dark- 
ness and transgression and sin. " Behold, I was 
shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my mother 
conceived me," was said by the Psalmist of us as of 
himself; and we are left " to eat the fruit of our way, 
and to be filled with our own de vices/ ' 

To us, then, this question of God comes with equal 
force as it did to Adam; and we do well, on the 
threshold of this solemn season of Lent, to stop, and 
consider, and answer. To you and to me God calls, 
" Where art thou?" We reply, not that He may 
know, but that we may know ; not to acquaint Him 
with our condition and our character, for He knows 
well — quite well — far too well ; but to acquaint our- 
selves with it. What is our condition of mind and 
heart? What is our character before God — that God 
" who seeth in secret ? " What are we doing for God, 
for the Church, for ourselves and our salvation — or 
not doing? How do we use all the privileges God 
gives us, and perform all the duties God lays upon 
us, and receive all the blessings God bestows upon 
us? Nay, more: as the principle of an evil lies 
deeper than the deed itself, so look searchingly into 
the depth of your heart — into the secret chambers of 



SECOND DAY OF LENT. 15 

your soul, and there weigh God's question well, and 
see what answer you can give Him. What is your 
relation with God ? What is the state of that heart 
which you once gave to God wholly to be His ? How 
many evil spirits are lurking around it, or hiding 
within it? How many tempers and passions, how 
many desires and lusts, are seated there, and, with 
daily and hourly touch, are painting your heart — 
your character — with the " blackness of darkness " ? 
What is the state of that soul which was once 
washed white in Divine blood, which was once dedi- 
cated as the temple of the Divine Spirit ? Is it still 
wearing its ghostly whiteness, or is its beauty 
marred by the pollution of many sins ? Is the Holy 
Spirit still abiding there and continuing His work of 
sanctification ; or has He suffered daily and hourly 
interruptions by our transgressions, or, alas ! been 
driven out by our persistent course in wilful sin? 
" Lo, Thou requirest truth in the inward parts," but 
" there is no faithfulness in our mouths, our inward 
parts are very wickedness/ ' Sins, sins, sins — great 
and small — nothing but sins, are strewn along the 
whole path of our lives, and, alas ! recorded in 
Heaven to our confusion and shame. If God should 
"hide His face from us, we would be like them that 
go down into the pit." If God would be extreme 
to mark what is done amiss, we could never abide 
it. "0 Lord, rebuke me not in Thine indignation, 
neither chasten me in Thy displeasure. Have mercy 
upon me, Lord, for I am weak;" " there is no 
health in my flesh because of Thy displeasure, neither 
is there any rest in my bones by reason of my sin." 
But Thou, Lord, " art a merciful God, full of compas- 



16 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

sion, long-suffering, and of great pity. Thou sparest 
when we deserve punishment, and in Thy wrath 
thinkest upon mercy/ ' 

Beloved, we have entered again the season of Lent. 
It is a season for repentance, and a season of grace. 
It is the voice of God saying to each of us : " Where 
art thou?" and bidding us turn from all evil and 
turn to our God. It is the voice of God bidding us 
to examine ourselves, to search our hearts, to try 
our souls, and to repent of the evil that is in us. It 
is the voice of God putting us to shame for our past 
failures, and offering His help and blessing and grace. 
" He hath searched us out and known us, and under- 
standeth our thoughts long before." Then let us, 
this Lent, pray God to " strengthen our weak hands 
and to confirm our feeble knees," that this Lent may 
not be like other Lents, but be more earnest, more 
serious, more searching, and so more faithful and 
more full of good to ourselves and of blessing to 
others. Let the cry daily be on our lips : " Lord, save 
us; we perish;" and the prayer: "God, be merciful 
to me, a sinner." And then, when Easter dawns 
upon the world, our daily searchings and strivings 
ended, we can lift our hearts in faith and say : " Lord, 
now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, ac- 
cording to Thy word ; for mine eyes have seen Thy 
salvation." 



THIRD DAY OF LENT. 

Sin. 

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and 
the truth is not in us. — I. John i. 8. 

THERE is nothing more striking in the life of an 
individual, or in history, than the quick and vast 
transition in the life of our Saviour following His 
Baptism ; — so quick in its descent from the glory of a 
kingdom, proclaimed and inaugurated, to a conflict 
with Satan ; and so vast in its extent as to almost 
take from us the power to realize it. From the 
waters of Baptism to the wilderness, with its wild 
beasts ; from the devout acknowledgement of the 
Baptist to the forsakenness and loneliness that fol- 
lowed ; from the consecration and filial prayer of the 
Christ to the want and weakness of a Forty Days' 
Fast; from the descent of the Holy Ghost and the 
testimony of the voice from Heaven to the assaults 
of Satan; — w r hat a contrast these were — what an 
antithesis! "He was led of the Spirit into the wil- 
derness to be tempted of the devil." Maywe not 
say He was led by our sins to a conflict with the in- 
stigator of those sins, that He might conquer sin and 
Satan for us, and bring us the victory? Yea, what 
followed His Baptism was necessary to His work as 
Redeemer; and it was our sins — your sins and mine 
— that drove Him there, that tempted Him, that en- 

2 



18 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

tered into a conflict with Him ; — your sins and mine 
put Him to a severe and bitter trial, to a painful 
humiliation and an open shame. But for your sins 
and mine, and the sin of the whole world, He bore it 
all; and came forth from the conflict and from the 
wilderness, in very deed the Master His disciples 
afterwards called Him; — not only their Master, but 
the Master of Satan — the Lord and Master. 

But, what is sin? We all know how to sin, 
though we may not be able to give the best definition 
of it. From our infancy we have sinned, though we 
then understood it not. Too well we know how to 
sin, and thus bring sorrow to the heart of our Sa- 
viour, and open anew the five wounds in His sacred 
Body, and crucify Him afresh. We know how to do 
it all; and we do it often, to our shame be it said. 
But do we know — have we ever thought — of the 
hatefulness, the heinousness, the sinfulness of sin? 
If we have thought of sin as affecting us, here and 
hereafter, have we ever thought what our sins must 
be to our Saviour, and to the dear Father in Heaven, 
whose love for our souls prompted Him to send our 
Saviour into the world that we might not perish in 
our sins, but be saved? Alas ! that is an aspect we 
forget. We sin as if we alone were affected by it; 
forgetful of the sorrow and suffering it causes in our 
dear Saviour's breast and in our Heavenly Father's 
heart. 

But let us see what sin is ; — first, with reference to 
God's holiness. His nature is perfect in holiness and 
purity. Sin is the utter and absolute opposite. God 
is holy ; we are — sin. God abhors that which is evil ; 
with what feelings of pity and horror, then, must He 



THIRD DAY OF LENT. 19 

look into the heart of sinful man and behold all the 
evil that lurks therein. We mar the beauty, and 
break the unity and harmony God has established 
everywhere in His universe. What is order we make 
disorder; what is law we make lawless. The pure 
we make impure ; the lovely we cause to be at enmity 
with God, We insult the nature of God by our own 
transgressions and iniquities; and, as if that were 
not enough, we taint with the poison of evil in our 
hearts everything He has made. And God sees it all. 
"He hath set our misdeeds before Him; our secret 
sins in the light of His countenance.' ' How hateful 
they must be — how hateful w^e must be — to Him 
who is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot 
look on iniquity.' ' We deserve to be spurned from 
His footstool, and to be crushed by His wrath. Yet, 
in His wrath He remembereth mercy ; for, in spite of 
our vileness and hatefulness, " we have an Advocate 
with the Father," "and He is the propitiation for 
our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of 
the whole world." 

So far with reference to God, who hates sin. Let 
us, secondly, think of sin with reference to him 
who instigates it — the Devil. He is God's personal 
enemy. Whatever God does, Satan strives to undo. 
It is he who goeth about sowing tares in the wheat. 
It is he that walketh about, like a roaring lion, seek- 
ing whom he may devour. Temptations and snares 
beset us on every side; and it is he — the Tempter — 
who sets them for our downfall and w^ho is not far 
away. And not only he, but his host of evil spirits, 
like a vast army of evil-doers, are actively engaged 
in corrupting our souls and thwarting the will of 



20 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

God in every instance. He furnishes the temptation 
and prompts the excuse for falling into it. He 
prompts the wicked thought, or word, or deed, which 
is treason against God and a betrayal of Christ; and 
oifers the apology for our rebellion against our 
Divine Master. Hence the sinfulness of sin, as a 
rebellion against our God, and an obedience to His 
and our great enemy, the Devil. 

But we have still another aspect in which to 
think of sin, — not only as affecting God, nor as affect- 
ing Satan, but also as affecting us. Satan prompts 
it ; God hates it ; but we suffer the penalty for it — an 
awful penalty, a terrible penalty, for "the wages of 
sin is death, " — death not only of our bodies, which 
would be awful and terrible enough, but also of that 
other and deeper member of our being, the soul ; and 
who of us dare face that ? Seriously think of our 
sins as deserving punishment, and think of the 
punishment in store for us because of our sins ; and 
who can longer live in sin and invite punishment? 
Who can longer live in disobedience and invite the 
penalty? Think of our sin as bearing, in the soul, a 
two-fold fruit, — as leaving us in guilt, each sin leav- 
ing us more guilty; and as a power over us, holding 
us in its firm grasp and leading us perforce to other, 
to more, to greater sins. Think of our guilt, and 
thin** of Him who will not hold us guiltless ; and 
what must be His anguish, as He lays before His 
searching Eye our naked hearts, and there sees all! 
Or what His indignation against us as He beholds us 
passive under the power of sin, w^hen He has offered 
us the help of His Holy Spirit to overcome sin, and 
the Blood of His Dear Son to wash awav all the 



THIRD DAY OF LEXT. 21 

deep and numberless guilty stains ! Or what His 
wrath, if, after having been washed clean in the 
Blood of the Lamb and having received the Holy 
Spirit into our hearts, we again wallow in the mire 
of sin and quench that Holy Spirit of God ! Terrible 
will be the penalty for such conduct — awful the death, 
of body and soul, for such trifling with God's mercy. 
Well may we u turn unto the Lord our God, with all 
our heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and 
with mourning," beseeching Him, who is " gracious 
and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness," 
to "be favorable to His people," and to grant us 
" perfect remission and forgiveness." 

Yet, it is not only our death, guilty and deserving 
though we be, that is the wage of sin ; but it has ac- 
complished the death of One who was guiltless and in- 
nocent. He who ' ' cannot look on iniquity ' ' yet i i laid 
on Him the iniquity of us all." That great humilia- 
tion, that life of patient suffering, that agony in the 
garden, that sweat of Blood, that feeling of forsaken- 
ness and despair, the buffeting and hollow mockery, 
the cruel scourging and crown of sharp thorns, the 
gall and the vinegar, the piercing nails, the burning 
thirst, the groans and prayers, and the awful death 
agony — innocent of any crime or fault and endured 
wholly for us ; this was the wage of sin. His was a 
righteous Soul, bowing beneath the weight of human 
sin — our sin; and bowing of His own will for our 
sake. His was a sinless Person, enduring the sense 
of the world's stupendous guilt, and suffering for the 
world's enormous sin — your sin and mine. That is 
the wage of sin ; that is what sin has done. Shame 
— thrice shame — yea, eternal shame upon us for still 



22 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR, 

giving Him grief and suffering by our faithlessness 
and unbelief, and our sins and shortcomings; and 
shame upon us if this Lent will not bring us to our 
knees in perfect penitence, and a full resolve to be 
more like our Saviour in innocence and purity ; and 
if we do not seek pardon for the sins we have com- 
mitted and the suffering we have caused Him, and 
ask a will to obey and a heart to love Him hereafter 
as He hath loved us until now. 



FOURTH DAY OF LENT. 

Original Six: Sins of Omission and Sins of Commission. 

They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: 
there is none that doeth good, no, not one. — Psalms xiv. 3. 

THE Psalmist describes the corruption of the 
natural man. He states both the totality and 
the -universality of human corruption ; that sin has 
not only passed upon all men, but through the entire 
man ; that sin is malignant and epidemic. 

Why sin came into the world, why man w^as per- 
mitted to fall, why God, in His wise Providence, 
gave Him power and freedom either to do good or 
evil, are questions far beyond man's understanding, 
and belong only to the hidden mysteries of God. Af- 
ter all our surmising, w^e must still say : We know 
not. 

But w^e do know that sin is here, and that we are 
all sinners ; perhaps, if we w^ould only acknowledge 
it, the vilest of sinners. Let us look for a while to- 
day at this deep powder called Original Sin, and then 
at our Sins of Omission and Sins of Commission. 

"By one man sin entered into the w^orld, and 
death by sin." "In Adam all die." Adam did not 
die as Adam, but as man ; his fall w r as not the fall of 
an isolated being, but of mankind. He was the 
father of the human race ; and in his fall contracted 
a nature corrupt and sinful, estranged from God, and 



24 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

guilty and condemned, which passes upon all the 
children of Adam — the corrupt inclination, the sinful 
character, of that nature with the nature itself. We 
inherit all; the guilt as well as the nature that is 
guilty — a proneness to all evil, a backwardness to 
all good; and, over all, God's wrath and condemna- 
tion. We are " born a child of wrath ; " we were sin- 
ful before we ever committed any sin ; we had an evil 
ground in the will before ever we were conscious of 
any evil act. The bitter waters of uncleanness from 
the fountain of Adam's sin deluged the soul before 
ever our hearts felt the warmth of earthly love, or 
our eyes opened to the brightness of earthly light. 
It came with the nature we receive from Adam. 

"All the flood of beings to whom Adam has trans- 
mitted his nature are evil and sinful. The evil pene- 
trates their moral fibre, their flesh and blood, their 
imagination and intelligence, their very conscience 
and spirit." * The evil of our nature is the source of 
all our evil thinking and willing; that inborn sin, 
which is a part of our carnal being, gives origin to 
all those acts of sin, whether of omission or of com- 
mission, that so befoul our stream of life. It is a 
fact, and it is a power — a power that grows as we 
grow ; that tightens its hold on us as we taste more 
and more of the forbidden fruit ; that tempts more 
and more cunningly as we may, perchance, find an 
inclination to resist it; that fills us with delight 
more and more as we submit to it. And soon there 
is rolled up a vast debt against our soul of actual 
sins — sins of omission and sins of commission, sins 

* Mason: " Faith of the Gospel." 



FOURTH DAY OF LENT. 25 

by neglect and sins by transgression, sins in thought, 
in word, and in deed — sins, countless sins, of every 
description. 

Sins of Omission and Sins of Commission. Let us 
look at these for a moment. What do we mean by 
Sins of Omission ? We know full well what Sins of 
Commission are; but many of us, perhaps, chance 
not to have so clear a conception of what the other 
sins are, and how deadly they are. We frequently 
confess ourselves to have "left undone those things 
which we ought to have done, and to have done 
those things which we ought not to have done; " yet, 
when we think upon our sins, we think only of actual 
transgressions — sins of commission — and seldom, 
many of us, perhaps, never, of the things we have 
left undone — the sins of omission. 

Look at the Parable of the " Unprofitable Ser- 
vant," and see whether there is not danger — serious 
danger — in sins of omission. " He did not waste his 
master's goods, like the steward in the other para- 
ble ; he did not spend all his portion in riotous living, 
like the Prodigal Son ; he was not ten thousand tal- 
ents in debt, like the unmerciful servant. ' ' * He simply 
"went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's 
money," and brought it back without having made 
good use of it — left undone that which he ought to 
have done; and for this — mark well the words — for 
this he was "cast into outer darkness, where there is 
weeping and gnashing of teeth." We have, therefore, 
to face the solemn truth that, at the Last Great Day, 
the things we leave undone — the sins of omission — 

* Trench. 



26 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

will condemn us as much as the things we do, or the 
sins of commission. The same Voice speaks the same 
lesson of solemn warning, also, in other parables. 
What does the Parable of the Fig Tree teach but the 
condemnation of unfruitfulness ? What does the 
Parable of the Vine and the Branches teach but that, 
not every branch that beareth bad fruit, but every 
branch that beareth not fruit, shall be cut down and 
cast into the fire ? What is it that condemns those 
of "all nations' ' who shall be gathered before the 
"Son of Man" in the Great Day? — is it that they 
have been thieves, murderers, blasphemers? No. 
But, "inasmuch as ye did it not. 11 That is the great 
accusation against them, the crime of which they are 
guilty. And the last word we have of them is that 
"these shall go away into everlasting punishment." 
What they have omitted — neglected ; what they did 
not do of all the many things they ought to have 
done, was the sin that sent them "into everlasting 
punishment." 

Thousands upon thousands of souls that have 
been purchased by Christ's Blood have been lost — 
are daily lost — not because they have been trans- 
gressors of God's Law by open or secret act, but be- 
cause they failed to act — "left undone" what was 
their bounden duty to do. Otherwise, they may have 
been faultless, of blameless life and exemplary con- 
duct; but still, in God's eyes, they have been "un- 
profitable servants." 

Then, on the other hand, think of the actual vio- 
lations of God's Law. Think of the sins of commis- 
sion that make still more desperate our chance of 
salvation ; for, if what we fail to do sends the soul 



FOURTH DAY OF LENT. 27 

into " everlasting punishment," what must it be 
when our numberless violations, great and small, by 
word and by deed, are taken into the account ? We 
have broken every commandment of God — if not in 
the letter, at least in the spirit. We have been guilty 
of hypocrisy and duplicity — serving Mammon more 
than we do God. We have been guilty of " evil con- 
cupiscence and covetousness, which is idolatry." We 
have been guilty of a vain use of God's Name, if not 
of blasphemy. We have neglected prayer, and failed 
to " assemble ourselves together" for God's worship, 
remaining at home when we might, and should, have 
gone to church. We have been guilty of undutiful- 
ness, pride, vain-glory, and self-conceit; of violence 
and cruelty, " hatred and malice;" of intemperance 
and gluttony in our thoughts and desires, as well as 
in eating and drinking ; of some form or other of dis- 
honesty in depriving another of that which was his 
due, whether of wealth, or influence, or character; 
of gossip and slander and equivocation ; of envy and 
coveting. We are commanded to give of our sub- 
stance as the Lord hath prospered us; but we do 
not. We are commanded to keep unspotted from the 
world this body that has, by Baptism, become the 
Temple of the Holy Ghost; but we do not. We are 
commanded to Sacramentally eat and drink of the 
Lord's Body and Blood, "in remembrance of Him; " 
but we leave God's house when that service begins, 
as if to say, "This I will not do." Thus, there is not 
a command — in the Decalogue or out of it — that we 
have not broken, in the spirit or in the letter. "We 
are all gone aside ; we are all together become filthy ; 
there is none that doeth good — no, not one." "All 



28 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned 
every one to his own way," and " there is no health 
in us." 

Let us take this seriously to heart this Lent. 
Think how we — you and I — have offended God num- 
berless times in all these numberless ways; how 
we have caused Him grief and pain ; how we have 
wounded His heart and pierced His soul, not only 
by our conduct at times, but by our whole past 
life; not only by our " going aside" and " becoming 
filthy," but by remaining away from Him and living 
in sin. If we do, this will be a well-kept Lent; and, 
when Easter comes, there will come with it a happier 
and a holier hope. 



FIFTH DAY OF LENT. 

Sins of Habit. 

TO-DAY let us think about Sins of Habit. We 
know what terrible a thing sin is ; let us see how 
much more terrible it is when it becomes a habit. 

What is a habit? Anything that is done again 
and again, — that is done by repeated acts, — that is 
persisted in, becomes a habit. Each act of sin goes 
toward forming the habit of sin. And there is a 
power in habit, so that it masters us and we become 
a slave to habit ; and if the habit be a sinful one, a 
slave to sin. Frequent repetition of anything makes 
it second nature to u s . What was at first done rarely , 
and with conscientious scruples against doing it, 
will, by repetition, become a part of ourselves, de- 
stroying our sense of its wrong. It is a sin of habit 
— a sin that we have gradually fallen into. 

You can best understand the power of habit, and 
the power of a sinful habit, when you reflect on 
drunkenness, or swearing, or lying, or sins of a simi- 
lar character. You may not be guilty of any of 
these, but }^ou come in contact with them in your 
daily life. You know their influence over others ; you 
know their effect upon the character; and you know 
God's wrath against those who commit such sins. 
You know how displeased God must be to see His 
children consenting to the least temptation of Satan ; 



30 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

and how angry He must be if the consent is to a 
great evil. You know what effect drunkenness, for 
instance, has on a man's own life, and on those who 
have to live with him and depend on him. 

But you are guilty of none of these great sins of 
habit — drunkenness, swearing, lying, and the like. 
I speak to Christian people, to whom they are hate- 
ful; who recoil from them, and abhor them in their 
inmost soul; who would be ashamed to be even 
sometimes found consenting to such sins, and more 
than ashamed to have such sins become a habit with 
them. 

Yet there are sins, not so open, so glaring, so man- 
ifest, not so hurtful and hateful according to our 
notion, perhaps, but alike hateful to God^ in which 
some of us sometimes indulge; into which persons 
who try to lead pure and holy lives sometimes fall. 
And they are sins of habit, too, notwithstanding 
that the grace of God is given them to resist and 
overcome. Because the}^ are not transgressions of 
the weightier matters of the law, they seem small 
and unimportant to us ; and yet, they are as deadly 
as the worst sins, gnawing at the soul's life with a 
slow and unnoticed, yet with a steady and sure, pro- 
gress ; and therefore to be all the more watched and 
guarded against because of the hidden and un- 
suspected evil. 

But let us first see how sin develops. There are 
three stages. There is first the temptation. This is 
not yet sin ; it is only the door through which we 
pass to sin. Were it sin, God would not tempt us, 
nor suffer us to be tempted ; yet He tempts us, that, 
by the discipline of our minds and hearts, by a quick 



FIFTH DAY OF LEXT. 31 

and firm effort of the will to overcome, and with the 
help of His grace given us with the temptation, we 
might grow in grace and in purity and holiness. 

Xext, after temptation, comes what is called delec- 
tation ; a growing delight in, and desire for, that to 
which we are tempted. Here sin begins. This de- 
light and desire we must instantly stop, by shutting 
our senses against it and taking our minds away 
from that which is tempting us. For, if we do not, 
it will pass into the third stage, which is consent, in 
which the sin is completed. 

These are the stages through which we pass when 
we fall into great, or mortal, sin. Yet we follow the 
same course, in these sins of habit which we consider 
slight, but which are as full of evil and as harmful to 
Christian character as any other, because they lie at 
the very base, and eat their way into the soul at its 
very center. 

Let us lay open our heart before us. Let us peer 
into its darkest recesses. Let us pass from chamber 
to chamber, from one dark corner to another, and 
uncover everything beneath which the very least of 
these sins of habit — that look to us so innocent — 
may lurk or hide. Let us spread our souls before us 
for conscientious self-examination, as they will one 
day be spread before the All-searching Eye of Him 
who seeth in secret; and see if there be any guilty 
stains upon them. 

One of the commonest sins of habit, and one of 
the most dangerous because it is not considered a 
sin either by the world or by us, is sloth. I do not 
mean sloth in our every-day life, in our worldly 
affairs, in our business. One may be very active in 



32 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

these, and yet in that which should most concern 
him, which should be dearest of all to him — his spirit- 
ual acts and spiritual life — be very slothful. Let us 
suppose ourselves looking upon the average congre- 
gation in worship — our own will do very well. We 
find that not only the minds but the bodies of some 
are the victims of sloth. Our outward posture tells 
that we must kneel on comfortable cushions, or we can- 
not kneel at all. During prayers we have wandering 
thoughts and looks, an undevout mind, and are care- 
less ; and are called back to our devotions only by the 
feeble " Amens " from a half-dozen throats that seem 
to be so tired. Our responses are cold and indolent, 
with little heart or will. All through the service we 
give evidence that we hate to make an effort. And we 
think we are doing ourselves no harm, and that God 
whom we profess to worship eannot but be pleased. 
There is too much sloth in our worship, where there 
should be warmth and whole-heartedness. 

Another sin of habit into which we all fall, because 
our depraved nature is almost unchecked there, is the 
indulgence of the imagination. Our thoughts take 
wings, and we fancy things we should not, and pict- 
ure to ourselves things that are harmful and sinful. 
This is the case with great sins, which none of us 
would be guilty of; which we would not speak of, 
much less do ; sins that are so plainly sinful that 
every good heart will shrink from them with pain 
and horror. All thoughts that are in any degree 
concerned with what is impure, immodest, unfit for 
a Christian to talk about or do, leave upon our 
mind and our character a taint of evil ; and are also 
deeply hateful to Him who knoweth the very thoughts 



FIFTH DAY OF LENT. 33 

of man. But there are sins of the imagination that 
are less plainly sinful. For instance ; we have had a 
difficulty, or a quarrel, with some one; and we go 
home thinking and brooding over it, and imagine 
ourselves.still engaged in a heated dialogue, making 
the other person say what he did not and perhaps 
would not say, and giving reply. We thus aggra- 
vate the quarrel by making our anger more bit- 
ing. 

There is still another, and very common, sin of 
habit into which we fall — all of us ; and yet which is 
forbidden by the Master and by His Apostle. It is 
that of censoriousness. We are too fond of thinking 
evil of our neighbor, in violation of that charity 
which " thinketh no evil," but " believeth all things " 
and "hopeth all things." We are too fond of drag- 
ging into the light of day the faults of others ; and 
while we are doing this we ' ' think of ourselves more 
highh^ than we ought to think." Who knows but 
that the other, with all the faults which we lay bare 
in him, is more a man after God's own heart than 
we are ? Who knows that the other is not in God's 
sight better than we are who condemn him ? Why 
shall we pass by our own faults, and pick at those of 
others, when, with the same temptations and the 
same training, we might have been no better than 
they ? It is reasonable, it is charit\ r , it is a Christian 
act, to think others better than ourselves ; and it is a 
part of our Christian duty to consider ourselves that 
publican and sinner of the parable, who is unworthy 
to lift his eyes unto heaven. 

There are other sins of habit — gluttony, lust, and 



34 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

the like — which I need but name to remind yott of 
their hatefulness and sinfulness. 

May we this Lent shake off those sinful habits 
into which we may have fallen, and pray, by God's 
grace, they may abide with us no more. 



SIXTH DAY OF LENT. 
Sins of Character. 

SINS of character are more secret, more hidden, 
more subtle, and more dangerous than sins of 
habit. Sins of habit affect our character; but sins 
of character are at the base of our character and 
form our character. Sins of habit are like mud that 
we have splashed upon ourselves — indulgences in 
wickedness; sins of character are part of ourselves, 
of our natural disposition, innate qualities of our 
being. Sins of habit are what we think, or what we 
say, or what we do ; sins of character, what we are. 
It is evident, then, that sins of character are more 
difficult to deal with, needing much knowledge of 
our inmost heart, and much grace and much humility, 
and needing much heart-searching and watchfulness, 
lest some of the more hidden sins of character escape 
our notice. 

An ancient Oracle, when asked what is of all things 
the best, answered: " To know thyself." One of 
the English poets tells us that " The proper study of 
mankind is man." As sins of character are a part of 
ourselves let us for a while try to study and to know 
ourselves — at least our sins ; and let us do this 
honestly and conscienciously. Let us look into our 
hearts determined to see ourselves as others see us. 
Let us throw the light into every nook and corner, 



36 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

that nothing may escape our search; and that we 
may see clearly what we are — what guilty inmates 
we harbor in that which is God's temple. Let us 
leave behind all self-love, and make the search in 
deep humility; for we shall not be long in finding 
out many sad truths about ourselves. And, while 
we are searching our hearts for our sins of character, 
let us think of all the precepts and commandments 
that each discovered sin has violated, — it will do us 
good, and will be a part of our Lenten discipline. 
Let us compare our lives and character with those pic- 
tured and described to us of holy men in the Bible ; 
that the contrast may show us more clearly our 
faults and deformities. Above all, let us study our 
hearts in the light of that one Life that has been 
given us as our Pattern; that we may see how far 
short we come of that which He expects of us. 

Let us do as we did before — look a few of the 
chief sins in the face ; all the while examining our- 
selves to see whether we are guilty of them. 

One of the most prominent of these sins of char- 
acter — because one of the most common — is pride. 
It is a characteristic of this sin that Ave are unaware 
of it, or deny its existence ; yet it is a fault with a 
great many. And often when we deny that we are 
proud, we are even too proud to confess that which 
we are. It is an abiding state of the heart, permeat- 
ing one's whole being, entering into everything we 
say and everything we do. It crops out in our walk, 
our conduct, our speech. Yet it is not always in 
supposing one's self better than others. Pride may 
be found under a great deal of meekness and humil- 
ity. It is not only the haughty that are proud ; but 



SIXTH DAY OF LEXT. 37 



the humble may be proud also. One may be too 
sensitive, too easily offended, or unduly anxious 
about the opinions of others about ourselves, or 
fancy slights where none are intended, or stand on 
rights or dignity. He considers himself only true to 
himself, and therefore sees no pride in his conduct; 
but to others, especially those who though innocent 
of wishing them any harm are affected by his con- 
duct, the proud spirit is very apparent. 

Another sin of character, equally common, is 
anger. How evil and sinful a thing this is many of 
us may know. How many other sins it leads to, we 
may all have sometime seen. How it tends to one of 
the greatest sins forbidden in the Decalogue, that of 
murder, we also know. Its tendency is always to do 
harm, or to wish evil, to another. But anger is sin- 
ful not alone because it leads oft times to murder, but 
because it has in its composition all the essentials of 
murder. In fact it is murder — not of the body but of 
that which is often dearer to a man than his body, 
that is, his good name and character. The use of 
hurtful or abusive words — the nursing in our hearts 
of any unkind or evil feelings, is murder of that 
which is of more value than the body. " Whosoever 
hateth his brother is a murderer." So speaks the 
Apostle; and he is only illustrating the doctrine of 
our Lord who teaches us that if am- evil be in the 
heart it is as sinful as if it were in the deed. 

Another sin of character is covetousness. This 
consists not only in desiring another man's property, 
but it has to do, also, with getting and spending our 
own ; not only in wishing for our own that which is 
our neighbor's, but in the eagerness with which we 



38 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

take what is coining to us, and the tight grip we 
keep on it after we have it. For one can be covetous, 
and yet, for one reason or another, have no oppor- 
tunity to show it in act ; because it is a state of the 
soul. And one of the evils of covetousness is that 
we deny that we are such. We put our acts on other 
grounds — prudence, carefulness, economy, frugality, 
and the like ; but we do not admit, nor suspect, that 
we are covetous, so subtle and secret is the snare of 
this sin. All the while we are dissatisfied with our 
lot or our station in life; we wish for a greater 
sphere and wider opportunities ; we want more, and 
ever more, and other, and better, than we have. We 
are impatient ; life becomes dull, and we become fret- 
ful. Our imagination pictures to us a glorious future, 
and we long for it. Our neighbor's success tells us of 
great possibilities, and we covet them — and, perhaps, 
are envious of our neighbor's success. Yet, it is not 
only in getting and spending money, or in the discon- 
tentment we show with our lot and our fortune in 
life, that we show our covetousness, but, also, in the 
spirit with which we support our religious and eccle- 
siastical obligations. It is that spirit shown by a 
very wealthy man who once paid seven hundred dol- 
lars for a private box at the theater and next Sun- 
day put five cents into the plate in church. Do we 
give to the Church in proportion as God hath pros- 
pered us ? Do Ave give with a willing heart ? Ques- 
tions like these are pertinent and timely during Lent. 
But, while we quicken our pace in the performance of 
our religious duties, let us not forget the wider sphere 
in which this sin may be shown, and both pluck up 
out of our hearts every trace of covetous desire and 



SIXTH DAY OF LENT. 39 



"set our affections on things above;" for we are 
taught not only that the Lord abhorreth the cov- 
etous, but that the covetous shall not inherit the 
kingdom of heaven (Ps. x. 3 ; I. Cor. vi. 10). 

A fourth sin of character is selfishness. Who is 
not selfish? What heart, o'er all the earth, is not a 
selfish heart — perhaps not always, but, at least, 
sometimes. Selfishness is self-indulgence. Who is not 
fond of indulging himself? The miser and the spend- 
thrift, the ill-tempered and the good-natured man, 
each m his own way, indulges himself, and in that 
indulgence shows one or another form of selfishness. 
Among the worst of the countless forms which this 
sin takes may be mentioned cold-heartedness, un- 
charitableness, and like states of feeling, in which we 
withdraw from others, and build around our hearts 
a Chinese wall through which neither love, nor sym- 
pathy, nor sense of dut}^, can effect a passage. We 
forget all about duty, and smother sympathy, and 
live in our little burrows regardless of the rest of the 
world. Our great Pattern here puts to shame our 
selfish lives. He lived solely for others ; we live solely 
for self. He unselfed Himself, constantly doing acts 
of kindness to those who wished Him harm, and 
even forgiving and praying for those who nailed Him 
to the cross; we demand " an eye for an eye and a 
tooth for a tooth," and love our neighbor, but hate 
our enemy. If anywhere we discover this sin in our 
hearts, let us pray that "this mind which was in Him 
may also be in us ; " that we may know less an less 
of self and more of God and God-likeness. 

Of the many other sins of character, I will men- 
tion only one more — hypocrisy. This is appearing to 



40 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

be what we are not. It is in the sphere of morals 
what counterfeiting money is in business. It is as- 
suming a character that does not belong to us. It is 
unreality. And this sin shows itself not only in our 
outward life and morals, but in religion, as if we 
thought we could deceive the Eye that is always up- 
on us, " beholding the evil and the good." 
* Many more sins of character might be named — 
obstinacy, hardness of heart, worldliness, and the 
like. How they fasten themselves upon the soul! 
How they twine themselves around the heart ! How 
natural they seem to us, because woven in the very 
texture of our character ! Yet, we are to cast them 
off. We are to conquer these enemies. Strong as 
they seem to us, strong as Satan may be, God's 
" grace is sufficient for us." " Whensoever we call 
upon Him, then shall our enemies be put to flight." 



SEVENTH DAY OF LENT. 

The Besetting Sin. 

Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so 
easily beset us. — Hebrews xii. 1. 

IN the beautiful imagery of the Apostle, life is called 
a race. We are all contending for an " incorrupt- 
ible crown," a " crown of life," more enduring than 
monuments, and that tells a victory greater than has 
ever been carved on stone. 

Like all other races, this for the crown of life is 
circumscribed by conditions and beset with difficul- 
ties. Like all other races, to subscribe to the condi- 
tions may be a small task; to enter upon it may be 
comparatively easy; the beginning may be full of 
promises. But soon the weight we may be carrying 
may be too heavy ; or the path may become thorny ; 
or our feet may become entangled in weeds and 
briars; or the stones heaped up in the path may 
wound our feet and retard our progress. The morn- 
ing is full of freshness, and the start well made ; but 
the burden of the day is hard to bear; then come 
twilight, evening, night, darkness — disappointment 
and defeat. 

So in the race for the " crown of life," of which the 
Apostle speaks. The fetters that bind and keep back 
the soul must first be gotten rid of; the burdens of 
many sins that now weigh down the soul must first 



42 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

be laid aside; all the snares and entanglements in 
our pathway, the thorns that are likely to prick our 
feet, the stones over which we are liable to fall, must 
either be cleared away or entirely avoided ; especially 
the thorn that wounds us more sharply than all 
others — "the sin w r hich doth so easily beset us," 
which hinders us at every step, must be plucked out 
and cast aside. 

Let us think for awhile to-day of this principal 
thorn in our flesh — this besetting sin. It may differ 
in each of us. No two of us may be tempted or at- 
tacked by Satan with the same evil, or in the same 
way. Yet w r e each know our great weakness ; the 
sin which has the most power over us ; the tempta- 
tion which is least resisted and overcome; the evil 
which most delights and enslaves us. We each know 
w-hat it is by which we most often suffer defeats. 
Think of it in the depth of your heart. Untwine it 
from your heart, and bring it into the clear light of 
day. Look at it seriously ; see it as God must see it, 
weighing well not only its power over you, but its 
guilt, in what it is both to \^ourself and to God, 
whom it greatly offends. 

You and I have promised, in the most solemn 
way, and at a most solemn time — the time of our 
Baptism — to " renounce the devil and all his works, 
the vain pomp and glory of the w x orld, with all cov- 
etous desires of the same, and the sinful desires of 
the flesh, so that we will not follow nor be led by 
them." You and I have promised, before God and 
His witnesses, to " renounce the world, the flesh, and 
the devil ; " to resist all temptations that come from 
these sources; to " obediently keep God's holy will 



SEYEXTH DAY OF LEXT. 43 

and commandments, and walk in the same all the 
days of our life." Yet we do not obediently keep His 
will and commandments, nor walk as " children of 
light." In one particular, at least, if not in many 
more, we are all transgressors of God's law. 

A peculiarity of a besetting sin is, that it is often 
so hidden, so concealed, that we fail to recognize it 
as a sin. If we know it at all, it is only as a weak- 
ness of the flesh, or as a part — a characteristic — of 
our nature for which we do not hold ourselves re- 
sponsible. We think God made us so ; — He made us 
proud, or ill-tempered, or greedy ; — He made us with 
strong desires and appetites and passions. But not 
so. These are but the ways in which original sin has 
developed in us ; the medium through which the evil 
nature inherited from Adam makes itself felt. And, 
because we take them as inherent parts of our being,, 
we fail to look on them as sins. Yet, we are to guard 
against these sinful developments of our nature, 
these temptations from within us, as much as we 
should, and must, guard against and overcome temp- 
tations from without. 

But our besetting sin may be one of which we 
have long been aware. We have fought against it, 
perhaps, as well as we could, but it has taken such 
hold on us that it has, in a sense, become a part of 
our nature. Drunkenness, uncharitableness, deceit- 
fulness, gambling, sloth, dishonesty — one of these, 
or one of the numberless other sins — may be our be- 
setting sin ; the one sin that has such hold on us that 
we scarce can do anything against it. 

Or, the entire world, in the midst of which we live, 
maybe one continued temptation. The different situ- 



44 SIN AND O UR SA VIO UR. 

ations in life, the different circumstances which arise, 
may each unite with our natural corruption, for the 
purpose of weakening or seducing us. Wealth cor- 
rupts, poverty exasperates; prosperity exalts, afflic- 
tion depresses ; business preys upon us, ease renders 
us effeminate; knowledge inflates, ignorance leads us 
into error; pleasure seduces, pious works excite our 
pride ; health excites our passions, sickness nourishes 
lukewarmness or murmurings. 

Whatever it is that most often tempts us and 
holds us the fastest, that betrays us most frequently 
into the hands of Satan, that brings us into a daily 
or an hourly fall, we must find it out and conquer it. 
It is necessary that we do this. We must not let one 
sin, be it ever so small in our eyes, stand between us 
and God, in whose Eye no sin is small ; with whom 
all sins are hateful. We must not let one sin, however 
besetting, however much we may be enslaved to it, 
stand between the soul and its Saviour. For we are 
solemnly warned by the Apostle that " whosoever 
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, 
he is guilty of all" (St. James, 2-10). This.is almost 
a staggering — almost a fearful bit of information. 
No matter how good we are in other particulars ; no 
matter how obediently we keep all other command- 
ments ; no matter how faithful we maybe in all other 
things, if we sin in one particular, violate one obliga- 
tion, break one commandment, "offend in onepoint," 
even if it be the least, " we are guilty of all." So far 
as God is concerned we might as well offend in all as 
only in one ; one sin will bring His wrath upon us as 
much as if we were guilty of the whole catalogue of 
sins. There is no degree in His wrath, as there is no 



SEVENTH DAY OF LENT. 45 

gradation in punishment. It is with God either love 
or wrath, either forgiveness or punishment; and it 
matters not if the sin be one or manifold, gross or 
small. "If we offend in one point, we are guilty of 
all." 

We therefore see how necessary it is that Ave — you 
and I — shall "lay aside every weight,' ' everything of 
a sinful nature that keeps back the soul in its race for 
the "crown of life ; " especially that we lay aside and 
put far from us "the sin that doth so easily beset us. " 

So long as we live in this world, we cannot be 
without temptation. "The life of man is a life of 
temptation." So long as we live, therefore, we shall 
always need to defend ourselves on every side, lest the 
devil find an advantage to deceive us ; for he never 
sleepeth, and therefore we should be ever watching. 
For no man is so perfect and holy but he has some- 
times temptations, and we cannot be altogether with- 
out them. Therefore all the more wakeful and watch- 
ful we must be ; all the more prayerful — watching in 
prayer — remembering two things : 

First, that " it is no sin to be tempted ; nor is our 
being tempted any proof of our being sinful." It is 
proof only of our being human ; of our being pursued % 
attacked, assaulted with a devouring greed by Satan. 
More than this it may not, and need not, prove. The 
temptation, whatever it may be, however cunning 
and however fierce, may glance off like the poisoned 
arrow from the well-poised shield ; and will glance off 
if we watch in prayer, leaving us purified by the en- 
counter, and stronger than all our enemies. But 
remember : 

Secondly, when we consent to a temptation it be- 



46 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

comes a sin. When we yield, we take it into the 
heart ; it becomes a part of our nature. So long as 
we do not consent, do not yield, no matter what the 
temptation may be, however besetting, it remains 
outside of us and harmless. But when w^e give assent, 
it enters the soul, however swept and garnished the 
soul may have been ; and darkens, defiles, pollutes it, 
perhaps for all lime to come and for all eternity. 

How needful, then, that you and I should be ever 
watchful against temptation, especially against "the 
sin that doth so easily beset us ; " that so often brings 
us to defeat and a fall ! How necessary that we lay 
it aside ; that we think of it in the morning to fortify 
ourselves against it, and think of it at night to con- 
fess it if we have fallen! For unless we put it, and 
all sins from us, we shall not come to eternal light, 
since only " the pure in heart shall see God." 






EIGHTH DAY OF LENT. 

Sixs Which Crucify Christ. 

They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put 
Him to an open shame. — Hebrews vi. 6. 

THIS is a sad state, indeed, of which the Apostle 
tells us. It brings to our mind, on the one hand, 
the crucifixion of our Lord on Calvary; it brings to 
mind all those sad circumstances in that last sorrow- 
ful week of His Life ; it calls to our remembrance the 
stupendous sacrifice on the Cross — the infinite love 
that willed it, and the sins that made it necessary. 
As we look upon that Cross, and think of that suffer- 
ing, that love, and those sins, many of the pleadings 
of our Lord come to mind — and many of His woes. 
"How often would I have gathered thy children 
together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under 
her wings, and ye would not." 

What a longing this was for the love of those for 
whom the Love of His Heart was shed in Sacrifice ! 
Bi^t they would not love ; no, not even for the sake of 
that which He had for them : ' k Ye will not come to 
Me that ye may have life." He was that life; but 
they neither came to Him, nor loved Him. They only 
mocked, and scourged, and crucified Him. The Life 
which He had to give them for their eternal peace, 
they took in the bitterness of hatred and incold blood. 
Every sin, from Christ to Adam, was confederated in 



48 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

the hammering of those cruel nails, and the thrusting 
of that piercing spear. And all these sins He saw, and 
felt, when He pronounced those bitter woes : " Woe 
unto thee, Chorazin, woe unto thee, Bethsaida;" 
" woe unto the world because of offences ; " " woe to 
that man by whom the offence is committed ; " " woe 
unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; " " woe 
unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.' ' 
All those sins which He saw and felt, from Adam 
down, forced from His pale lips those agonizing cries 
of " woe." For what was to be punishment to them, 
was pain and grief to Him. 

But He did not alone look back over the world 
for the sins that made Him suffer such torture of 
Body and Soul. Not alone the sins from Adam down 
to these last tormentors at the foot of His Cross, 
were present to His Soul, as He suffered this last 
cruel agony of His Life. No ! Ours, too, He saw and 
felt, as He was uplifted on the Cross. He looked 
into the future, and saw all the myriad sins that 
would yet be committed. He looked into our own 
hearts, and saw — as He sees now — all the evil and all 
the sin that we try to hide. He looked to the very 
end of the world, and saw all the wickedness that 
should be in it to the last. All this was present to 
His Soul. In His Divine Ommiscience, He was vividly 
conscious of the sins of the whole world, from the 
Creation to the end. And the sense of this, more 
than the insults of the mob or the sufferings of His 
Body, made His "Soul exceeding sorrowful even 
unto death. " Our sins, and the sins of to-day, no 
less than the sins committed in the days of Noah ; 
the sins of this community no less than the sins of 



EIGHTH DAY OF LENT. 49 

Chorazin andBethsaida, or of Sodom and Gomorrah, 
were leading the Lamb of God to His slaughter on 
Calvary. il He was wounded for our transgressions ; 
He was bruised for our iniquities/' 

But have we ever thought of this ? Have we ever 
thought that our hands helped to plait that crown 
of thorns, and to drive those nails ? Have we ever 
thought that we crucified our dear Lord and Saviour? 
Not only may we look back and see the crucifixion 
for which our sins are responsible; many — very 
many, to-day, perhaps some of us among the num- 
ber, " crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, 
and put Him to an open shame."' Many — very 
many, to-day, inflict some new pang upon Him ; 
pierce His Heart with a fresh pang of sorrow ; revive 
and repeat the torture of the Cross. And among 
those who thus keep on erecting crosses for our 
Lord's crucifixion, who thus continue the shame of 
His sufferings and the bitterness of His anguish, may 
be some of us. 

Does it seem to you that, because He has ascended 
on high, He can feel no grief? That, because He has 
been taken up into glory, He can experience no pain 
and sorrow? False notion of our Saviour's love 
and sympathy ! "We have not an High Priest which 
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; " 
and He who could weep, in the keenness of His sympa- 
thy, when on earth, for the sorrow and distress of 
His people, can now be moved by the sight of grief 
and suffering. If He can, from His throne, behold 
our sorrows and sufferings ; if in His exaltation, He 
can feel our grief; if, in His home of glory, He can 
"be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; " He 



50 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

can also be pained by the sight of human sin, and, 
through His power of suffering, be " crucified afresh' y 
by those deeds of darkness which men now commit — 
those " deeds that are evil " which we commit. Not 
only, in His Divine Omniscience, does He look down 
and behold the sins of His people, and in His infinite 
sympathy suffer pain because of our sins; but our 
sins rise up to Him in Heaven, and there cry out 
against us. Oh ! terrible thought, that God not only 
sees the evil in our hearts, but that our sins cry unto 
God from the ground ; not only put Him to an open 
shame here, but in the very home of glory send a 
piercing shaft through His Sacred Heart. 

But, according to the Apostle, it is not every sin 
that crucifies the Son of God afresh. He mentions 
only one — the sin of apostasy ; and yet it is possible 
that all sins may at last be gathered up in this one. 
"It is impossible, " says he, "for those who were 
once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly 
gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 
and have tasted the good word of God, and the 
powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, 
to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they 
crucify unto themselves the Son of God afresh, and 
put Him to an open shame." 

Apostasy means a standing off, an abandonment 
of what one has voluntarily professed, a total deser- 
tion or departure from one's faith. It cannot be 
that there are any such here — any who have aband- 
oned their Christian profession and deserted their 
Lord. Such are not usually found in Church during 
Lent. But there are degrees of departure. And 
may it not be that some of us, while not going the 



EIGHTH DAY OF LENT. 51 

full length of an apostate, have yet taken some steps 
in that direction; that some of us have in some 
measure " fallen away" from that white heat of faith 
and profession, which brought us to our Confirm- 
ation. You shudder at the thought of such little 
apostasies, and think it impossible for you to sin thus. 
St. Peter thought so, and before the cock crew he had 
denied his Lord thrice. Others, who had been far ad- 
vanced in the narrow way ; who had grown much in 
grace ; who had tasted often the heavenly gift, and 
found it sweet; who had known much comfort 
and peace in the Holy Ghost ; nevertheless fell, and 
added nails and thorns to their Lord's passion, 
and pierced again and again His pure and loving 
Soul. And if they could, why may not we? "Let 
him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. ,, 
Think of the much backsliding that is done — that we 
have done; now tasting that the Lord is gracious, 
and then falling under a strong temptation ; now be- 
ing lifted in the power of the Spirit to the blessed- 
ness of life, and then coquetting with Satan and play- 
ing on the edge of the precipice overhanging hell. 
Heirs of unending life, — candidates for eternity, and 
hastening towards its awful realities, — tabernacled 
by Christ and His Holj r Spirit; we yet, now and 
again, turn aside, and amuse ourselves with lying 
vanities and sport with our own deceivings, upon 
Eternity's dreadful brink. We hear Christ assailed, 
His Church ridiculed, His Faith antagonized, His 
religion despised, His people mocked, — and we are 
silent as the grave. We hear our Lord falsely accused, 
denied, blasphemed, crucified by His enemies around 
us ; and in the cowardice of our hearts, by our silence, 



52 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

we desert Him, too, and " crucify Him afresh. " The 
opportunity is given us to confess Him before men, 
but we backslide and hold our peace. He looks to 
us for aid in the war against Satan, but we add in- 
tensity to the bitterness of His sorrow by wounding 
Him in the house of His own familiar friend. Not 
this alone ; when His table is spread with the Divine 
Feast, many of us — communicants of the Church — 
turn our backs on the Feast of the Altar, and, instead 
of coming to Him, weary and heavy laden with our 
sins, go out from Him, who offers Himself for our 
Peace. Oh! to be so near to Him, and yet to pass 
Him by ; to know Him in all His beauty, and yet to 
'" crucify Him afresh ; " to bear His image, and yet to 
"put Him to an open shame;" to be exalted to 
heaven, — to be thrust down to hell! What a height, 
— what a depth! And then when we stand before 
Him at the Great Day, and ask Him the meaning of 
those wounds in His Body, to hear Him say : i ' Those 
with which I was wounded in the house of My 
friends" — those which thou hast inflicted upon Me! 



NINTH DAY OF LENT. 

Death. 
The wages of sin is Death. — Rom. vi. 23. 

WE have so far in our Lent meditations thought 
upon sin, sins of habit and sins of character ; 
what they are in themselves, and what they are to 
God and to us ; how they develop, how hateful and 
sinful they are, and how they crucify Christ. Let us 
to-day think upon that which sin has brought into 
the w orld, " the wages of sin," that is, Death. "As 
by one man sin entered into the world, and death by 
sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have 
sinned." 

"Sin," savs one, "is the blindness of our minds, 
the perverseness and crookedness of our wills, and 
the monstrous irregularity and disorder of our affec- 
tions and appetites."* 

"Sin," says another, "as a raging and command- 
ding king, has the sinner's heart for his throne ; the 
members of the body for its service; the world, the 
flesh and the devil for its grand council; lusts and 
temptations for its weapons and armory; and its 
fortifications are ignorance, sensuality and fleshly 
reasonings, "f 
Death — physical, spiritual, eternal, all the collected 

*Tillotson. 
tBnrkitt. 



54 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

evil results of sin — comes as the punishment of sin ; 
and puts an end to the work, but not an end to the 
worker. Sin and death are cause and effect. If Adam 
had not sinned, he might have been " clothed upon " 
by a kiss of the Almighty, with higher forms of being; 
but the prophet's words — "the soul that sinneth it 
shall die" — w ere uttered beside the* forbidden tree in 
the Garden; and Adam sinned and died. And so have 
all since died that have come into the world. 

Days pass into weeks, weeks into months, months 
into years. The one ends as does the other; and as 
they end so does life. Life is but a span long and age 
is as nothing in respect of eternity. How fast does 
time fly! How quickly do the days, and the weeks, 
and the months, and the years glide away! How 
soon will this poor, short life come to an end ! " We 
bring our years to an end as it were a tale that is 
told; " they dissipate into a dream that is past, and 
we hasten on to that moment which is for each the 
end of time, the beginning of eternity. 

The question has often been asked : Is life worth 
living? It is looked at as a speculation, and the ques- 
tion with most persons is : What return shall I get 
for the outlay ? Does it pay ? And the answer will 
depend on the life itself. If life b*e selfish, seeking 
pleasure, ardent for the world, its fame and fortune, 
inflamed by our worldly attachments and desires, 
reanimated by our passions, steeped in sin and cov- 
ered with shame, it will surely not pay. The sooner 
it comes to its end the better ; but what an end that 
is! Yet, if lived for God and in God's light, keeping 
His commandments and doing His will, the end will 
be blessed. 



NINTH DAY OF LENT. 55 

But do we so live that this may be our end ? "It 
is appointed unto all men once to die." Let us look 
our end in the face and ask that question. Do we 
live as they whose " soul doth wait for the Lord ? " 

Many of us may have seen death. All have no 
doubt stood beside a grave. We have seen birth, 
youth, manhood, titles, fame, wither in a moment, 
and forever buried in the grave. We have been im- 
pressed with the certainty of death and the reality of 
a future. Yet we go from a melancholy grave into 
the busy world as if we were to live and labor through 
eternal ages. We return from a death scene into the 
w^orld more occupied with, and more eager for, those 
vain things of this life, the insignificance and mean- 
ness of which we had but so lately seen w4th our own 
eyes . What blindness ! What folly ! We lay projects , 
assume cares, form attachments, stretch every nerve 
in the pursuit of fortune and rank ; we heap up riches 
and gratify our ambitions ; yet the money for which 
we toiled and sinned, in thinking of which w^e forgot 
God, and the sinful pleasures for which we sacrificed 
our souls, all must be left at death's door. Nothing 
but our true nature, our real character, ourselves as 
we are, can pass beyond. We fear, and w^e reproach 
ourselves, lest we never do enough for ourselves and 
our worldly affairs; but w^e check ourselves in the 
dread of doing too much for an eternal fortune. 
Nothing is too much for the world ; but in the fear of 
doing too much for God we do nothing at all — in the 
fear of doing too much for our salvation we neglect 
it entirely. Because it is not certain that we shall die 
to-day, we live as if w^e w^ere to live forever. Such a 
life; blind, foolish, mad, intoxicated with the world's 



56 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

pleasures, and deceived by its illusions, does certainly 
not pay, and is not worth living. 

There is nothing so certain, and so uncertain, as 
death. The first step which man takes in life, is like- 
wise the first towards the grave. The first breath he 
takes is laden with the poison of sin. Death is un- 
certain, and therefore it is imprudent to forget its 
coming and to let it surprise us. Death is certain, and 
therefore it is foolish to dread the thought of it and 
to keep it out of sight. It is uncertain, because we 
know not the hour, nor the day, nor even the year of 
its coming, though it may come to-morrow. Death 
is certain ; it must happen ; it is written on our bodies ; 
we carry in our breasts its slow poison, which is cor- 
rupting and undermining our health, and will one day 
extinguish the feeble and flickering flame of our life. 

Death "cometh as a thief in the night" — but it 
cometh. Both its certainty and its uncertainty should 
cause us to give our thought and our prayer to it. 
But that day is seldom in our minds. We live, and 
that is sufficient. We live as if we should live forever. 
Upon what do we calculate long life ? In what do we 
trust, that we so utterly neglect the thought of our 
last hour ? In youth ? It is indeed full of hope, and 
promise, and possibilities. But the son of the widow 
of Nain was young ; others around us seemingly cer- 
tain of long life, have been smitten in the flower of 
youth so that they perished. Or, in the strength of 
your constitution? Yet a single day's sickness is 
enough to lay on a bed of pain and suffering the 
strongest among us. The best health is but a spark 
which a breath may extinguish. What madness, then, 
to build our hopes of long life on youth or health, and 



NINTH DAY OF LENT. 



neglect the only certain thing that is appointed 
unto us. 

Think, then, upon death; and think how different 
the death of the sinner and the death of the righteous. 

The one may have filled the world with his name ; 
history with his deeds ; monuments may not hold all 
the acts of his life ; fortune may have poured upon 
him a continued shower of successes ; honored and 
sung of all men, and glorious in the eyes of all. But 
in the sight of God he may be the vilest of mortals. 
He has lived only for self and vanity ; immortal in the 
world's annals, but he has nothing deserving written 
in the Book of Eternity, and nothing but shame and 
disgrace following him into the presence of God. He 
trusted, perhaps, that before death should look him 
in the face he should overcome the sin of his soul ; but 
he hugged its pollutions closer to his bosom. He 
thought, perhaps, of the fate of the sinner who dies 
in his sins ; but he tranquilly prepares himself for the 
same fate. He wishes to die the death of a saint, and 
to live the life of a sinner. His life is full of good de- 
sires and intentions, but empty of good works. When 
his last end comes, having lived a stranger to God, he 
can now offer Him nothing but his sins. His earthly 
pleasures, hopes, transactions, vanish like a dream; 
but he remains to give account of them. Everything 
around his bedside, every turn of his thoughts brings 
back to his mind some sin long forgotten. The 
heavens and the earth rise up against him, and unfold 
to him the sinful story of his life. He despairs of God's 
clemency ; feels himself unworthy of His mercies ; is 
told by a secret voice in his own heart, of the hopeless 
state of the impious ; and his soul, pronounced Chris- 



58 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

tian at his Baptism, sealed with the sign of salvation 
which he effaced, purified b\ r grace which he trampled 
under foot, admitted to a profession which he has 
always profaned ; — that soul, with groans of agony 
and cries of despair, with eyes growing dark and 
gloomy, with convulsions and quiverings, passes out 
of its crumbling clay and falls into the hands of its 
God, who, with tears and sighing, thrusts it into the 
blackness of darkness forever. 

Far different is the death of the man of God. He 
lives in the fear of God, and in the love of God ; and 
he dies as he lives. Life is full of trials, temptations, 
dangers; full of disquiet and distress, of tears and 
combats and defeats ; death is deliverance and per- 
petual peace. It is the day of the Lord's coming, and 
he meets death with a song of praise and thanksgiv- 
ing; for he shall be clothed upon with immortality 
and enter the society of those holy ones who are seated 
around the Throne in the ineffable brightness of God's 
countenance. He leaves a perishing world, which he 
has never loved, and sees the bosom of Abraham 
opening to receive him. He is borne by blessed spirits 
into that habitation ; and you, who remain and see 
him fall asleep, are forced to exclaim : " Blessed are the 
dead who die in the Lord." 

Imagine yourown death. It cannot be difficult to 
imagine. You are sick, and grow weaker. Medicines 
will not help you. You grow still weaker, and there 
is danger. Then there is great danger. Then there is 
no hope. Then all is over. How would you meet it ? 
Dare you face it ? If you could not with confidence 
face it now, how do vou know you can when it does 
come? A life's work cannot be done on a death-bed. 



NINTH DAY OF LENT. 59 

Life, not death itself, is the preparation for death ; 
and as a man lives so shall he die. 

Think of death, of your life as a preparation for 
it. Happy if you die in the Lord ; eternally wretched 
if you depart in sin. 



TENTH DAY OF LENT. 

The Judgment. 

The great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able 
to stand? — Romans vi. 17. 

OUR last meditation was upon death. We have 
seen what a terrible day, a day of wrath, it 
will be to the impenitent and wicked, and what a 
glad and happy day to the holy ; a day of sadness 
and gloom to the one, and to the other a birthday to 
a better life in a better world. There is one more 
scene, equally terrible to the one and equally blessed 
to the other, and equally certain to all. 

" Immediately after the tribulation of those days 
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not 
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, 
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken ; and 
then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the 
heavens, and they shall see the Son of Man coming 
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." 

"When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, 
and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit up- 
on the throne of His glory. And before Him shall be 
gathered all nations ; and He shall separate them one 
from another, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from 
the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right 
hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King 
say unto them on His right hand : Come, ye blessed 



TENTH DAY OF LENT. 61 

of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you 
from the foundation of the world. Then shall He 
also say unto them on the left hand : Depart from 
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
devil and his angels. And these shall go away into 
everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life 
eternal.' ' 

On earth all things come alike to sinners and 
saints. God's mercies are poured out with an open 
hand, and they fall all around without regard to 
those who receive them. He is the Father of all, and 
careth for all. Even so are all men free to make the 
most of themselves and their opportunities. The 
world of business is as a problem of evolution; and the 
fittest man, he with greater powers of endurance, sur- 
vives in the struggle for place or fortune. The right- 
eous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean 
and the unclean, they that sacrifice and they that 
sacrifice not, have all an equal chance before God and 
man. Not so in the Great Day. Men will be neither 
equal before God, nor will they have a like chance to 
obtain His favor and blessing on that day of great 
revelations. 

But picture the scene, a scene that is fast coming, 
and coming to all of us. It will be but a faint pict- 
ure at the best ; for with all our powers of imagin- 
ation we cannot conceive of it. Imagine a mighty 
space, far as the eye can see, nay, far as the mind can 
reach, spread out before you; filled with a mighty 
throng of human beings, a vast and numberless army 
of souls, living and dead, small and great, infant and 
adult, young and old, countless millions of human 
forms ; ranks and legions and wondrous multitudes ; 



62 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

peoples, tribes and nations; worlds upon worlds of 
human souls stretching away in one vast and awful 
and amazing array. And somewhere in this mighty 
host will be you and I. 

But all eyes are fixed upon one central scene, glori- 
ous yet terrible to behold. A " great white throne 
resting upon the clouds of heaven/' surrounded by 
the holy angels ; and seated upon it One whose " vis- 
age was so marred more than any man, and His 
form more than the sons of men; " yet whose very 
look, by its seriousness and the awful solemnity of 
His countenance, strikes doubt or terror into every 
heart. All eyes are fixed upon Him, with varied 
look yet in speechless awe ; some, who have known 
and confessed Him that sitteth on the Throne, look 
with pleasure and delight up on Him whom they have 
long wished to see; others, and by far the greater 
number, who have denied Him before men, seeing 
His holiness and their own sinfulness, would now 
turn away from His gaze and hide from His anger if 
they could, knowing that He now will deny them be- 
fore the Father. Somewhere in this mighty host will 
be you and I. 

But this central Figure in this mighty assembly is 
not the most terrible thing on this most terrible Day. 
More dreadful to think about is the fact that, before 
this Holy Being on His Throne, will be spread all the 
history of our life. Everything wall be unfolded be- 
fore Him, from our first breath to our last sigh. All 
the iniquities of our whole life will confront us. All 
the misdeeds and shortcomings, all the crimes secret 
and open, all the vanity and obstinacy and weak- 
nesses and meannesses, will be collected before our 



TEXTH DAY OF LENT. 63 

eyes and before His searching gaze. Not an act, not 
a wish or desire, not a word or thought w r ill be 
omitted. And, if the very hair of our head be num- 
bered, think of our deeds. " Our iniquities are set 
before Him, the most secret sins in the light of His 
countenance." 4t There is nothing covered, that shall 
not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known." 
And "if Thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what 
is done amiss, Lord, wdio may abide it ? " 

But this is not all that we see on this dreadful 
Day, in this mighty army of human beings. We see 
this vast multitude part ; there is a quick and busy 
movement on all sides ; we see it form again in two 
great companies, in two mighty armies, one on the 
right hand and one on the left of the Son of Man 
seated upon His Throne. The one give everv sign of 
surprise, despair, terror, and confusion ; the other 
have the marks of serenity, confidence, and bliss on 
their countenance. The one look toward the Throne 
w r ith confident expectation of life eternal and bliss 
everlasting; the other, with quivering frame, and 
e}^es fixed downward as if piercing the abyss w^hich 
is yawning toward them, gasp with horror and 
would escape if they could. The "King of Glory," 
looking from His Throne w T ith eyes full of love and 
sweetness, will say to those on the one side the words 
of consolation and peace : " Come, ye blessed of My 
Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from 
the foundation of the world." But to those on His 
left, with changed countenance, with eyes full of 
vengeance and fury, and voice which shall burst open 
the bowels of the abyss to swallow them up, He 
shall say, — not, "come, ye blessed," nor, as from the 



64 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

Cross, " Father, forgive them," but, " Depart from 
Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
devil and his angels/ ' Somewhere in this scene, on 
the one side or the other, hearing these words that 
shall assign us to a lot which shall change no more, 
which shall be for ever and ever and ever, will be you 
and I. 

You say, perhaps, you have not been given power 
to overcome ; that you w^ere brought into this world 
weak in body, with a temperament prone to the evil 
which God abhors, with a heart susceptible to all the 
temptations which beset the soul. You say, perhaps, 
that God has not given you sufficient grace to battle 
against the odds in which He has placed you. But 
in that bright and clear light which shall then be 
cast into the soul, revealing everything not only to 
the Eye of God, nor only to us, but which will enable 
the host of human beings around to see w T hat we are, 
we will then see that our whole life has been one of 
abuses of God's grace, one of resistance to the oppor- 
tunities and privileges which He has held out to us, 
one of continued quenching of His Holy Spirit, one 
of trifling with divine inspirations and of neglect of 
sacramental nourishment. We will then see how 
great things God hath done for our salvation, and 
how little we ourselves have done to aid God's grace 
in our behalf. 

Were this scene to break upon us now ; were this 
Day to open now ; were we now- caught up and set 
before the Throne and searched through and through 
by that piercing glance of the All-seeing Eye, on 
which side would we find ourselves ? How would we 
appear before that awful tribunal ? With what feel- 






TENTH DAY OF LENT. 65 

ings would we behold the Face of the Son of God? 
What could we expect from Him ? The Book of the 
Law still lays its threatenings and its pleadings and 
its promises before us: " Children of Israel, behold 
I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a 
blessing, if ye obey the commandment of the Lord 
your God which I command you this day; and a 
curse, if ye obey not the commandments of the Lord 
your God, but turn aside, out of the w^ay which I 
command you this day, to go after other gods w T hich 
ye have not known." The right hand and the left 
are before us, the promises and the threatenings, the 
blessings and the curses, the path that leads to life 
and the path which leads to everlasting perdition. 
In which path are you now ? On which side will you 
be then ? " Choose you this day whom ye will serve ; 
whether the God of your Fathers, or the gods of the 
Amorites in whose land ye dwell." Whichever be 
your choice, in your morning and your night watches, 
forget not this last and terrible scene, and the part 
which you will play in it. 



ELEVENTH DAY OF LENT. 
Eternity. 

« 

Thus saith the high and lofty One who inhahiteth eternity. — 
Isaiah lvii. 15. 

LET us to-day meditate upon Eternity. What a 
tremendous theme it is; full of mysteries con- 
cerning God, and angels, and ourselves, and the 
states called heaven and hell! What an immensity 
the word brings to mind ! It almost makes the mind 
stagger to think about it. Vast in its length and 
breadth — we have nothing in this universe that can 
give us the faintest idea of it. It is impossible for us 
to define the w^ord so as to tell really what it is. We 
say it is the dwelling-place of the Almighty ; yet who 
can form an adequate conception of it ? We say it 
is everlasting — endless ; yet who can conceive of any- 
thing endless ? We say it is a very, very long time — 
millions upon millions of years ; yet it is not time, 
and it is not years. We say the whole duration of 
time is, to Eternity, as one grain of sand is to the 
whole globe, or as one drop of water is to the mighty 
ocesn ; but, try to conceive of it, and you are lost in 
thought — in wonder and amazement. Only He who 
inhabiteth Eternity can know what it is. We can 
only think of the word in awe ; and, as for the thing 
itself, it is past human thought. We look back over 
the world's history, and think six thousand years to 



ELEVENTH DAY OF LENT. 67 

Adam a very long time. We excavate ancient cities, 
and dig up remains of inscriptions which we think 
very ancient; which tell us about people we never 
heard of, and about events which we never knew of. 
Yet it takes nearly one hundred and sixty-seven times 
six thousand to make a million; and eternity is a 
million million — millions upon millions of years. 
And the end of this million times million — millions 
upon millions of years — may be but the beginning of 
Eternity. What a boundless, awful, stupendous con- 
ception the word Eternity brings to mind ! 

Space is one of the things that make our universe. 
But think of space, who can ? The mind travels to 
the sun, which is ninety-one millions of miles from us ; 
and then on to the nearest fixed star, which is two 
hundred thousand times farther from us than the 
sun. And there are millions of stars beyond this, 
millions of times still further from us. What a mar- 
vellous immensity we are entering into ! Yet there is 
an end to space, as there will be to Time. But who 
can conceive of the end of space, as he travels on 
from star to star, and sees a countless number of 
stars farther beyond ? So still more marvellous in ex- 
tent and duration is Eternity. If we can conceive of 
no end to space, which is finite, how can we conceive 
of Eternity, which is infinite! On the outside of 
Earth man stands, with the boundless heaven above 
him, space around him and above him — nothing but 
space. We wonder in silence and amazement. So 
still more do we wonder and tremble at the thought 
of Eternity. 

Think of Eternity as God's Dwelling-place. Think 
of all its secrets and wonders. " Eye hath not seen, 



68 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of 
man, the things which God hath prepared for them 
that love Him ; " and all these are hid in that bound- 
less, that endless, place called Eternity, and will one 
day be revealed tmto us in all their splendor and 
glory. That wondrous world, with its "many man- 
si ons," its "inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, 
and that fadeth not away," its " crown of righteous- 
ness which the Lord will give/' will one day lay its 
secrets before us, and its best treasures will be our 
own. The manifold forms in which the All-Beautiful 
has concealed His Essence; the Living Garment in 
which the Invisible has clothed His mysterious love- 
liness, are revealed above the sky and in the eternity 
beyond; and we shall behold with rapturous gaze, 
and be forever satisfied in the contemplation. 

Think, also, of those blessed beings who, with 
God, inhabit eternity. Thrones, dominions, princi- 
palities, and powers; angels and archangels; patri- 
archs and prophets; apostles, martyrs, confessors, 
and saints of all ages ; "a great multitude which no 
man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and 
people and tongues, " all dwell with God in light, and 
stand "before the throne, and before the Lamb, 
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, 
and cry with a loud voice, saying, Salvation unto 
our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb." "In the beauty of holiness," in the bright- 
ness of Glory, in the fulness of happiness, in the light 
of God's countenance, in the Divine smile, " they cry 
one to the other, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of 
hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory;" and 
"they rest not day nor night, saying, Holy, holy, 



ELEYEXTH DAY OF LEXT. 69 

holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is 
to come." 

Think, too, what a glorious heritage they have, 
who dwell with God in Eternity, and worship Him. 
u They have come out of great tribulation, and have 
washed their robes and made them white in the 
blood of the Lamb. They shall hunger no more, 
neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light 
on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in 
the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall 
lead them unto living fountains of water : and God 
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;" "and 
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor cry- 
ing, neither shall there be any more pain; for the 
former things are passed away." 

This is but a faint and poor picture of God's 
Dwelling-place, in which saints and angels find peace 
and happiness, and worship the Lamb that sitteth 
upon the throne. Far as the east is from the west, 
wide as virtue differs from vice, much as the noon- 
day sun surpasses in light and splendor the feeble 
flame of a candle, vast as the universe is in compari- 
son with this earth, so the glories of Eternity far ex- 
ceed all that we can imagine or desire. 

For this Eternity you and I were created ; for it 
we are destined ; towards it we are going — fast, fast 
going — each day's end bringing us one day nearer 
that moment when we, as I hope, shall awake up in 
the brightness of eternal glory. Its very shadow is 
even now upon us. We shall live forever. Immortal 
as God Himself who made us, we, too, shall inhabit 
Eternity. u Though worms destroy this body, yet in 
the flesh shall we see God," and dwell with Him, and 



70 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

worship Him, and minister to Him, in His everlast- 
ing Home of peace and glory. Worlds pass away ; 
but the soul lives on, and on, forever. Myriads of 
ages pass away ; but the soul is no nearer the end of 
its existence than it was at the beginning. Endless 
existence ! Eternity ! What awful thoughts ! What 
a marvellous destiny! You and I shall live on, and 
on, forever and ever, with all the saints, in the Dwell- 
ing-place of the Most High God, or else — shall we 
say it? — in the bottomless pit of perdition. 

Do we ever think of Eternity as not only God's 
Home, but as our own.? Are our hearts set upon it? 
Do we love to reflect about it, and do we earnestly 
hope and long for it ? Has it a charm for our hearts ? 
Are our affections set on the things therein, and not 
on things on the earth ? Do w-e say, with David : 
" Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks, so 
longeth my soul after Thee, God?" Is our soul, 
like David's, " athirst for God, yea, for the living 
God ? " Do we say, with St. Paul, that we are " will- 
ing rather to be absent from the body and to be pres- 
ent with the Lord ? " Do we say, with David, " out 
of the deep" "I look for the Lord: my soul doth 
w^ait for Him ; in His word is my trust. My soul 
fleeth unto the Lord before the morning w^atch, I say 
before the morning watch." Oh, the secrets, and the 
mysteries, and the glorious things that are contained 
in Eternity, that are prepared by the High and Lofty 
One for those who love Him ! 

Many do not think of Eternity; but the} 7 live regard- 
less of it. They live solely for Time. Their thoughts 
are so wrapped up in this world, that they think not 
of the next. They are wholly given up to the cares 



ELEYEXTH DAY OF LEXT. 71 



and interests of temporal things, and are forgetful of 
the things that are eternal. What are all the beau- 
ties of nature, what is all the glory of this world, 
compared to that heavenly world where the Godhead 
dwells? Oh, to have gained all the pleasures and 
comforts afforded in Space and Time, but to have 
with it lost Eternity! — to have gained the whole 
world, but to have lost his own soul! 

I repeat, therefore, has Eternity any charm for us? 
Do we love to think about it, and long for the time 
when its light shall dawn upon us ? Time shall be 
no more ; earth and sea and sky shall be blotted out ; 
but we shall live forever. Amazing folly and madness 
not to think of that forever of glory, or forever of 
torment whither we are all going; and more than 
madness not to set our affections on things 
above. 

Think vet again. In these many mansions of the 
Father's House, will there be one prepared for you 
and for me? Will you, will I, be in the Kingdom? 
Will our eyes behold "the King in His beauty ?" 
There can be no doubt as to who will be there. Pa- 
triarchs and prophets, and all the holy men of old; 
apostles, martyrs, confessors, and saints of all ages; 
hosts of poor and nameless believers in the Lord, 
who have in patience borne the sorrows of life ; myri- 
ads of holy ones who have lived in steadfast faith, 
and died in a sure hope of a blessed immortality; 
"the holy Church throughout all the world," re- 
deemed out of all mankind, and triumphant forever- 
more; — these all shall be there, in garments of spot- 
less white, and singing the songs of salvation around 
the throne ; but will }^ou be there, and will I ? Let 



72 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

the question sink deep into our hearts, because it 
deals with awful realities: When the Lord gathers 
the elect into His Kingdom, will jou be there, and 
will I ? 



TWELFTH DAY OF LENT. 

Self-Ex amixatiox. 

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your 
own selves. — II Corinthians xiii. 5. 

WHAT man is there who has not sore need of 
such examination and proving? Who among 
ns has not within his breast something that must 
cause apprehension or fear? The best of us is not be- 
yond God's indignation, and " the righteous scarcely 
are saved/ ' There is often something which the cloak 
of charity cannot cover, nor the perfume of good 
words and good deeds hide. Look to-day into your 
heart and see if there be any wickedness in it ; prove 
your soul and see if there be any good in it. For we 
may imagine ourselves to be in the faith when we are 
not ; and we who deceive ourselves in this matter, so 
essential to our everlasting salvation, are criminally 
guilty for it, God having made it the privilege and the 
duty of every man, by faithful examination, to ascer- 
tain with confidence whether he is in the faith or not. 
Look to-day over your past life; scan every year, 
every^ month, every 1 - day^ if possible, and see and prove 
your own selves in the clear light of honest and earnest 
search down in the very bottom of y^our heart ; in the 
most remote recesses of your soul, for those faults of 
your life, those shortcomings, those sins which have 
held you and marked you before God and man. See 



74 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

and search and prove to-day, as you must see and 
prove some day, where, in all God's Kingdom, you 
love to stand. 

Look ! Oh, those sins we have committed, you 
and I ; and that corrupt nature from which they have 
all sprung ! Oh, that deep-seated, unconquerable de- 
sire of our hearts to have our own will, and to live 
our own way ! See the many, many evils we have 
committed in God's sight, and the many, many things, 
great and small, which we have left undone. See the 
many careless or evil habits into which we have fallen. 
See those sins of character which are part of ourselves — 
our pride, anger, covetousness, selfishness, hypocrisy, 
and such like, which are seated on the throne of our 
hearts — yours and mine — and, great God ! those hearts 
are Temples of the Holy Spirit ! With what fear must 
we look and prove ourselves, in the face of such start- 
ling disclosures as the slightest examination of our 
hearts and our lives must make ! How constantly do 
we fail to carry out what it is manifestly intended we 
should as sons of God and children of light ! How 
often do we resolve to take Christ to be our Master, 
and pledge Him our hearty obedience ; that He alone 
shall rule our hearts; that He alone shall be King 
over us ; that His Law shall be our meditation and 
our delight ; that He shall be the pattern of our lives ; 
that the beauty of His saintliness shall be our model ! 
But when He takes our promise and our pledge, and 
comes to abide in us, to dwell in our hearts as His 
home and make it in all things pleasing to Himself, 
how constantly and, alas ! how quickly do we forget 
our promise, and seek another's dominion ! How 
constantly and how quickly do we fail Him when He 



TWELFTH DAY OF LENT. 75 

most needs us, and turn a deaf ear to even the earliest 
of His commands ! How often in the morning do we 
dedicate ourselves to God, and when with the burden 
and heat of the day the trial comes, instantly forget 
it ! How often have we prayed for grace to overcome 
habits or to withstand temptations, and have quickly 
fallen back into them again! How sorely disap- 
pointed He must be, how bitterly grieved at our un- 
faithfulness and our un worthiness, our fitful fluctua- 
tions and our falseness ! " Deceitful above all things 
and desperately wicked ' ' will we find our hearts if we 
will but stop and look, and " examine and prove our 
own selves ; " if we will but "consider the days of old 
and the years that are past." And so will God find 
them and look upon them with the sorrow of His 
soul. 

Looking upon us now, does He find faith in us? 
Does His searching F,ye find anywhere in our hearts 
anything to love and bless ? Where and what is it ? 
Where and what are its tokens ? Do faith and love 
inspire all our actions, and shine forth out of all our 
words ? Do we feed upon God's Truth ; and feed our 
souls with heavenly Manna as eagerly as we feed our 
bodies with the food that perishes ? 

So might we continue to ask ourselves, so might 
we continue examining and proving ourselves by God's 
Word and God's Commandments. But the answer 
must in all cases come back with startling force : Nay, 
we have come short, far short of God's lowest expec- 
tations. We have broken all our promises, and vio- 
lated all our obligations. Thus do we stand before 
ourselves and before God self-confessed and self-con- 
demned. 



76 SIN AND O UR SA VIO UR. 

Oh, if we should go on day by day, and year by 
year, as, by self-examination, we have proven ourselves 
to be ! Or, if we should go on thus, without ever ex- 
amining and proving our own selves ; our faults and 
our sins unconfessed, tmrepented, unforgiven; great 
God, what a debt we should owe Thee! And if we 
should never know them until we should hear of them 
from His own Mouth at the Last and Great Day, 
Most Merciful God, what shadow of hope could there 
be for us ! If, therefore, we should be afraid to die 
with our sins unknown, unconfessed, unrepented and 
unforgiven, why should we not be afraid to live in 
that frightful state of soul? If, on our death-bed, we 
should hurry into confession and repentance; if, then, 
in the night of death, we should " prove our own 
selves, " and lay our sins before a merciful God with a 
prayer for forgiveness, why not do so each night, 
with each day's sins, and pray for pardon and grace 
to amend ? 

If we would not so die, let us not so live. " Exam- 
ine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your 
own selves/' whether ye be in the Covenant ; whether 
ye love God with all your heart and soul, and are in 
perfect charity with all mankind. What better time 
to do it than this ? What better time to search out 
and confess our sins against our neighbor, wh at better 
time to lay bare our sins against God ? We balance 
all our accounts with our fellow-man; why not do so 
with God ? We look earnestly into all our worldly af- 
fairs, and watch the state of our money matters; why 
not examine into all our past words and deeds, even 
our thoughts and secret faults, and prove the state of 
our souls ? What better time to do so than this ? 



TWELFTH DAY OF LEXT. 77 

Let us examine ourselves, therefore, you and I, as 
God will one day examine us — you and me. What if 
we should come before Him without a single thought 
of our sins ! What if He should call us before His bar 
with every stain on our souls, the great and the small, 
unwashed ! — if He should see us, who are creatures of 
but an hour, yet defiled by ten thousand times ten 
thousand sins and offences! Oh, the pain to His 
Heart, and the remorse to our souls, if we should find 
ourselves, because of offences that may be unforgiven 
and sins that may not be covered, outside the power 
of human prayers, or, if possible, of Divine mercy ! 
Let us shake off the sloth and idleness which hold us 
captive, and, looking into our hearts, let us reckon up 
the debt we owe God; and then, overwhelmed with- 
the sense of our sinfulness and our utter unworthiness , 
let us come to God for pardon — to the Fountain for 
uncleanness for that cleansing and purifying which 
all must have who long to "see the King in His 
beauty," and to feel the welcoming pressure of His 
loving, guiding Hand, and to live in the Light of His 
countenance forever and ever. 



THIRTEENTH DAY OF LENT. 

Repentance. 

Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. — St. Mat- 
thew iii. 2. 

THE first word of both the Baptist in the wilder- 
ness and of Christ when He entered upon His 
mission, was a cry to repentance; a call to a change 
of mind and of heart — a change of life and of pur- 
pose in life. For, said they both, "the Kingdom of 
.Heaven is at hand ; " and "except ye repent, ye shall 
all perish ;" except we "repent, and believe the 
Gospel" we cannot be delivered from our sins and be 
saved. 

If we have "examined ourselves whether we be in 
the faith, and proven our own selves;" if we have 
searched our own hearts, and looked earnestly into 
the lowest depths and the remotest and darkest 
chambers of the soul; and dragged into the light of 
conscience, and before God's Eye, all its sins and 
evils, all its secret faults and open transgressions, all 
its hidden and long-forgotten wickednesses as well as 
its most recent disobediences, we must know well 
the necessity for repentance ; and we must be moved 
to repentance by even the slightest "proving" of our 
inward state; we must be covered with the shame 
and confusion of our own wickedness and unworthi- 
ness, and seek, close by the sin-laden Cross, the com- 
forting compassion and pardon that follow repent- 



THIRTEEXTH DAY OF LEXT. 79 

ance as surely as day follows the darkness of night, 
or as calm follows the severest storm, or as peace 
follows the decisive battle. 

Repentance has tw^o parts ; it is a two-fold act of 
the mind and heart. It is a turning from sin in godly 
sorrow, and a turning to God with a full purpose of 
amendment. We must therefore need to know our 
state and the way of deliverance from it ; we must 
know our need and the source of succour. We must 
know and confess that " w^e have sinned against the 
Lord our God, w^e and our fathers, from our youth 
even unto this da}^, and have not obeyed the voice of 
the Lord our God ; and then we must " turn unto the 
Lord our God with w^eeping, fasting and mourning" 
— with contrition, confession, and a hearty resolution 
to do God's will. 

One of the first things for us, then, is to know our 
sins and our guilt, the sinfulness of our sins and the 
fearful enormity of our guilt. With the Psalmist in 
godly sorrow^ we must confess : " My sins have taken 
such hold upon me that I am not able to look up ; " 
and with the penitent Prodigal we must cry : ' ' Father, 
I have sinned before heaven and in Thy sight, and 
am no more worthy to be called Thy son." We must 
deeply feel the sense of shame and humiliation. 
" Tears must be our meat day and night," because of 
the evil of our hearts ; and we must feel a strong and 
sincere aversion to it, a bitter hatred for it, and a 
hearty desire to flee from it. 

Two pictures must always be before our eyes ; the 
picture of St. Peter, covering his face with his hands 
and wiping from his furrowed cheeks the hot tears of 
repentance for having denied his Master; and the pic- 



80 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

ture of the Publican in the Temple, with uplifted hands 
but down-cast eyes, bringing his un worthiness to 
God in the prayer, " God, be merciful to me a sinner.' r 
That same sorrow which filled St. Peter's heart we, 
too, must feel; and that prayer of the Publican must 
not only be on our tongues but in our hearts. You 
and I must be able to say in truth : That publican, 
that sinner, am I. 

Then, feeling heartfelt sorrow for our sins, and 
deploring our misdeeds, we must come unto Him 
who bids all who are " weary and heavy laden" to 
come to Him that they may find peace. This is the 
second part of repentance. First, a turning from 
and a turning against sin with a deep conviction of 
its terrible consequences upon us and its loathsome- 
ness to God ; and next, a turning to God in sorrow- 
ful confession, with a prayer for forgiveness of past 
sins and grace for the future. 

It is well that we may come unto Him ; that in our 
sorrows and our sins we have some One to go to — 
some One to call to our aid. "He has given us rest 
by His sorrow, and life by His death; rest from our 
sorrow, from our fear, and from the hard bondage 
wherein we were made to serve; " and that inward 
peace which comes only from above. Conscious of 
our sins, and of our guilt, and of our condemnation, 
and of our need of forgiveness, here is One who, in the 
mercy and the compassion of His Heart, brings pardon 
and grace. Convinced of the corruption of our nature 
and the depravity of our souls, and of our need of 
sanctification, here is One who, in love and in kind- 
ness, cleanses our nature and purifies our souls. 
Knowing our subjection to the kingdom of darkness 



THIRTEEXTH DAY OF EEXT. 81 

and our need of deliverance from the power of Satan, 
here is One who, with divine goodness and divine 
strength, and with the costliest of all gifts, ransoms 
ns. Repentant, and confessing with sorrowful and 
contrite hearts all our past sins, and our weakness in 
present dangers and temptations, here is One " who 
despiseth not the sighing of the contrite nor the de- 
sire of such as are sorrowful," but will hear and 
4 ' save to the uttermost." Repentant and confessing, 
pardoned, purified, ransomed and saved, the Father 
from above looks down upon each one of us — upon 
you and upon me — and sees no longer our sins but 
His own beloved Son abiding in us ; and in that sight 
He, in infinite mercy, overlooks all that still mars our 
life, and heeds not the impurities which still cling to 
us, or the infirmities which still beset us, or the dis- 
order which still remains, or our utter unworthiness 
to receive His blessing or behold His face. He sees 
only His well-beloved Son in us, and owns us as one 
with Him. He loves His own dear Son, and loves us 
in Him for His sake. And thus, repentant and con- 
fessing, pardoned, purified, ransomed and saved, our 
unrighteousness is forgiven and our sins are covered 
through the pleading of the One Sacred Heart of the 
Son, and by the grace and mercy of the Father. 

But we are to repent not only because our sins are 
an abomination to God, and our guilt an accursedness 
to us, but because "the Kingdom of Heaven is at 
hand" — nay, "the Kingdom of God is within us;" 
because "life and immortality have been brought to 
light," and are in us "the power of God unto salva- 
tion." We are even now within the walls of the 
heavenly citv, surrounded bv the countless host of 

6 



82 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

pure and spotless beings, " filled with all the fulness 
of God." Though our minds cannot grasp the 
thought, and thought cannot compass the truth, yet 
even now our inner hearts are in some measure, and 
in a mysterious way, conscious of the strange reality. 
Christ apprehends us, and we apprehend Christ. We 
feel ourselves drawn to a whole world of Life. We 
feel the presence around us of an innumerable com- 
pany, and within us of a blessed Being blessing us — of 
a Holy Being making us holy. Forms which cannot 
be seen are felt by our side ; and living as we live, in 
eternity with God. A host of heavenly beings are 
guiding us by day and watching over us by night ; 
worshipping God in His Holy Place, and lifting their 
hands with ours at the Altar ; kneeling with us in our 
closets, and lifting their voices with ours in common 
prayer and praise. A common life, which knows no 
bound, is thrilling, as a vast tide, around us and 
around them, within us and wi thin them. The whole 
Life of the Incarnation is felt in our hearts, quicken- 
ing them and filling them with the fulness of blessings, 
conforming us more and more to the image of Christ, 
and changing us more and more into creatures of glory . 
Love embraces, and penetrates, and absorbs us, and 
knits us, by mystery divine, into one blessed commun- 
ion with all who are hidden in the Bosom of the Father. 
Oh, then, why not repent of our sins, and turn 
unto the Lord our God while He is near? Why 
not confess and forsake our sins, that we may have 
' 4 perfect remission and forgiveness ? ' ' Then the Lord 
will be gracious, and of tender mercy, and will draw 
us near unto Himself in sweet communion and fellow- 
ship here on earth, and nearer still in the Home beyond. 



FOURTEENTH DAY OF LENT. 
Consciousness of Sin, and Confession of Sin. 
God be merciful to me a sinner. — St. Luke xviii. 13. 

TWO things are plainly seen in "the publican, who, 
standing afar off, would not lift up so much as 
his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, say- 
ing, God be merciful to me a sinner ;" two things 
which must also be found in you and in me and in all 
who would come unto God. He knew himself a sin- 
ner, and he confessed it before God ; he was conscious 
of the evil of his nature, the perverseness of his heart, 
the sinfulness of his soul, and acknowledged it before 
Him "who seeth in secret " and seeth into the heart's 
most secret depths. Not only this, but in the Greek 
it says, "be merciful to me the sinner; " not the sin- 
ner in comparison with others, but as showing the 
extreme depth of intense self-abasement; God be 
merciful to me, sinner that I am. He left comparisons 
to the Pharisee, and thought only of his own wicked 
heart; he felt only his own sinful condition, and his 
need of mercy and forgiveness. 

So must we, you and I, think, and know, and feel, 
ere we can receive mercy and grace. We must know 
and feel that we are sinners, great sinners, ere we can 
know and feel God's mercy and forgiveness. There is 
nothing, perhaps, that so well shows to us, and to 
others, our sinfulness as the knowledge of how often 



,84 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

we have repented of a sin and then shortly after 
backslided again ; how we have grieved over a sin, 
and presently sinned again; how we have fought 
against a temptation, and then fell into it ; how we 
have resolved to lead godly lives, and then broke 
our resolve ; how we took one step forward and then 
a step — perhaps two steps — backward ; how we have 
prayed for " grace to help in time of need" and then 
forgot all about it. There is nothing that shows 
better than this how deeply sinful we are, how fast 
hold sin has on us, how enslaved we are by it, how 
much we are under its power. There is nothing that 
makes us more conscious of the dominion of sin ; of 
the power of darkness, of the terrible antagonism of 
the soul's enemies, as our frequent defeats and falls. 
Nor does anything make us more conscious than 
these do, of our own weakness and powerlessness to 
meet these evil spirits, to overcome these spiritual 
enemies, to beat down Satan under our feet, and 
root out of our heart all weeds of our nature. We 
may have always believed the great doctrines of the 
Church — God's love, man's sinfulness, Christ's Atone- 
ment, the Spirit's sanctifying work, Heaven and 
Hell; but we have believed them from afar. They 
have been no part of us. Even our belief in man's 
sinfulness has been something vague and distant. 
We have not come to look away from mankind in its 
vastness to that little part of it which each of us 
calls "I;" nor have we left off saying, "man is sin- 
ful," and taken up the heart's cry of misery, "I am 
sinful." But there is nothing that will make us do 
this, nothing that will make us so conscious of our 
own sinful condition and our helplessness in sin, as a 



FOURTEENTH DAY OF LENT. 85 

knowledge of our frequent — our constant — defeats 
and falls. 

This is one of the two things which the publican 
knew and felt, and w^hich we must know and feel. 
We must come face to face with our sins, not with 
sin in the world but with sin in the heart ; with the 
many sins wmich 3^ou and I have committed and do 
now commit. We must be conscious of them, con- 
vinced of them, see them in their true light as deeply 
hateful to God and eternally hurtful to us. Our sins 
of omission and sins of commission, our sins of habit 
and sins of character, the " sin which doth so easily 
beset us," and the sins which crucify the Son of God 
afresh, all the sins of our hearts in their myriad 
forms, we must feel and know as the first step 
towards mercy and forgiveness. And feel and know 
them not lightly, but with a recollection that is bit- 
ter, that touches the heart and fills us with sorrow 
and shame, that pains our innermost soul, and drives 
us to God that He may pluck from the soul their 
fiery brands. We must deeply feel for ourselves the 
truth of the Apostle's words: "If we say that we 
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is 
not in us ; " and feel the truth of the prophet's words : 
" There is none that doeth good, no, not one; " and 
we must feel that this means us particularly. 

Then this first step towards better things will 
lead to the second. Consciousness of sin will lead to 
confession of sin. Xo sooner do w^e feel ourselves 
"the sinner," than we say: "God be merciful to me 
the sinner." Xo sooner dowe find ourselves unclean, 
than we come to the Fountain for cleansing. Xo 
sooner do we feel the disease of the soul, than we 



86 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

come for pardon and healing. This should be our 
chief desire, as it is our first duty. The Church puts 
confession of sins the first thing in the service, before 
ever we utter a word of prayer or praise ; so should 
it also be the first thing in our closet. As in the wor- 
ship of "the great congregation," so in our devotions 
in secret and behind closed doors. The Church puts 
this first because this is the most natural thing to do, 
and the most honest. When we have done aught 
against any one, unless we are brazen and hard- 
hearted, we confess and ask forgivness before we ask 
another favor. So with ourselves and God. We 
should, and must, confess our sins for the week, or 
for the day, before He will turn a listening Ear to 
our requests. "He is of purer eyes than to behold 
iniquity," and we must first feel and confess our 
iniquity, before He will hear our wants and answer 
according to our need. 

It is plain, however, that more is meant by con- 
fession of sins than the mere telling them out with 
the lips. If this were all, God would not require it 
of us. He knows our sins better than we do. Unto 
Him "all hearts are open, all desires known, and 
from Him no secrets are hid ; " and He does not need 
to be told our sins as a mere bit of information. He 
■wants us, then, to confess our sins that we, too, may 
know them, and know them with godly sorrow; 
confess them with humbleness of heart, with peni- 
tence and full purpose of new obedience and amend- 
ment of life. To confess in earnest, then, is to give 
the cry of the "broken and contrite heart," " God be 
merciful to me the sinner." 

To know and to confess our sins — what a labor of 



FOURTEENTH DAY OF LENT. 87 

vast proportions this would be, were we to name 
each of ottr sins one by one. "In many things we 
offend all," says the Apostle. "0 Lord our God, 
other lords besides Thee have had dominion over us," 
says the prophet. These "other lords" have made 
the best of their dominion over our hearts, and our 
offenses are more than can be numbered. Think of 
all those you and I have committed the past week ! 
And think there have been other weeks with their 
offences ! And think how the weeks roll into months, 
and the months into years, with a vast number of 
sins to account for at the end! Think, too, how 
these sins will once be called up, one by one, to accuse 
us and condemn us. Will it be well with the soul, do 
you think, in that day, when our countless sins will 
be brought forth, like a mighty army; and these 
"other lords" will come up to claim us as their 
"peculiar people" — peculiar in the sinfulness of our 
hearts, in the perverseness of our whole being, in the 
depravity of our desires and affections ? 

But we need not name them one by one, nor fear 
to meet and face them in that awful Day, if now we 
confess and forsake them, and utter the penitent's 
cry: "God be merciful to me the sinner." "Perfect 
love casteth out fear ; " and Infinite Love has prom- 
ised by His Apostle that "if we confess our sins, He 
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to 
cleans us from all unrighteousness. 

Let us then show this Lent, and all the time hence- 
forth, these two things that are so prominent in the 
publican and so necessary in us. Let us know our- 
selves honestly as we are, that knowing our sins we 
confess them, and in confession findforgivness. Sweet 



88 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

will be the peace that will settle over the heart with 
God's answer to our penitent cry ; sweet the comfort 
that will come to the soul with our confession and 
God's pardon. Should we confess to-night as we 
retire, and this be our last night on earth, still we 
know that with an honest confession there would 
come a Voice that would declare all things well. 
The Lord loveth " mercy and forgiveness, though we 
have rebelled against Him ; " and there is nothing so 
pleasing to His Ear, nothing that so kindles His 
love, as the penitent cry, " God be merciful to me the 



FIFTEENTH DAY OF LENT. 

Self-Consecration. 

i 
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that 

ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto 

God, which is your reasonable service. — Romans xii. 1. 

WITH each celebration of the Holy Eucharist we 
lift our hearts to God the Father in prayer and 
say: "Here we offer and present unto Thee, Lord, 
ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, 
holy and living sacrifice unto Thee ; " humbly beseech- 
ing Him to grant, among other things, that we may 
"be filled with His grace and heavenly benediction, 
and made one body with Him, that He may dwell in 
us and we in Him." 

Do we ever stop to think what this means ? Do 
we fully realize what vast and serious things we are 
praying for in these few words ? Think for one 
moment — and think in all seriousness — there, at God's 
Holy Altar, in the most solemn act of worship man 
can engage in, on our knees, while we commemorate 
the sacrifice of our Lord for us and our salvation, we 
declare, in words of prayer, that we offer and present 
ourselves to Him who has offered Himself for us and 
to us ; there, in a most solemn moment and in most 
solemn stillness, when we closely connect the One 
Great Sacrifice with our Eucharistic "Sacrifice of 
praise and thanksgiving," we offer a dedicatory sac- 
rifice of ourselves, our bodies as well as our souls, in 



90 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

living, holy fellowship and indwelling, He in us and 
we in Him, with all of grace and heavenly benediction 
that may flow therefrom. 

What better thing can we do than to give ourselves 
wholly to Him who has given Himself wholly to us ? 
How can we better show our appreciation of the 
wonderful love of God, of the unspeakable pity, of the 
grace incomprehensible, which has ever followed us 
into all our sin, to the lowest depth of wickedness 
wherever we have gone, and has drawn us, striven 
with us, quickened us, that we may evermore arise to 
the full purpose of that love and that grace in our 
hearts ! Knowing our sins and our sinfulness, repent- 
ing of them, and confessing and forsaking them, what 
else could we do — you and I — but give ourselves up to 
God in voluntary self-sacrifice, and in thankful obedi- 
ence to Him for His mercies in Christ. 

Unless we do this the Sacrifice of Christ for us will 
not only be not complete, but will have no power for 
us unto salvation. He took up His Cross for us, and 
we must take up our cross for Him. He laid down 
His Life for the sheep — and laid it down of Himself— 
the Creator for the creature — God Incarnate for sinful 
man — a voluntary Offering ; and so likewise should we 
lay down our lives, dedicate our souls and bodies, 
surrender our entire selves — our mind, heart, will and 
affections; all our faculties, all our powers, all parts 
of our being, all our thoughts, words and deeds, to 
Him. He gave us all that we may give all back to 
Him again. 

Now, one of the chief reasons, and perhaps the in- 
clusive reason, why we should give ourselves wholly 
to God, is because "we are buried with Christ by 



FIFTEENTH DAY OF LEXT. 91 

Baptism into death " — into the death of the old man 
of sin — " that like as Christ was raised from the dead, 
even so we should walk in newness of life ; " because 
we are " crucified with Christ," because our " bodies," 
no less than our souls, " are the temples of the Holy 
Ghost," and " members of Christ," and "we are not 
our own," but are "bought with a price." - 

True religion, then, concerns the body no less than 
the soul ; salvation is for the body as well as the soul. 
Think, then, how complete a surrender of ourselves 
we must make ; how searchingly God will look for the 
fall measure of self-sacrifice. He will not be satisfied 
with a half-hearted service. He will not be pleased 
w r ith an indifferent, listless, lukewarm faith and obedi- 
ence. He will not be mocked by pretences, and 
regardeth with anger a worship that is not to His 
honor and glory. 

Too often we think, and act, as if salvation was 
only for the soul ; as if the body would not rise again ; 
as if worship was something spiritual for the soul or 
the heart only, in which the body could not engage; 
as if the soul must cleaveunto God, but that thebody 
might be given to all sorts of vices without breaking 
God's Commandments. We live in the world as ii 
soul and body were in no way connected ; as if the 
soul should worship God, but that the body might 
serve the devil ; as if the soul should serve God one 
day in seven, but that the body might serve Mammon 
six days in each week. What is such worship and 
such service but an abomination unto the Lord ! 

That devotion, that sacrifice, which God calls for, 
and w r hich will sanctify us, is a full and perfect conse- 
cration to the service of God, a complete surrender of 



92 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 



our will to His will ; and consists in doing His will pre- 
cisely at the time, in the place, and under the circum- 
stances, to which He has called us. Not only this; 
but perfect self-consecration demands not only that 
we do God's will, but that we do it with loving hearts. 
God desires willing sacrifices . And here \\ r e must have 
Christ for our Pattern. "Lo," said He, "I come to 
do Thy will, God." "Not My will," said He, "but 
Thine be done." His whole life was one great Sacri- 
fice, an unselfing of Himself; from first to last an 
unselfish devotion to the Father's will. So must we 
live in continued submission of our wall to the Divine 
will ; in doing, bearing and suffering, being led on by 
the one thought of walking only in the way of the 
Lord. Having renounced the world, the flesh and 
the devil, w T e must resolve to serve none but God 
alone, and to make it the chief concern of our lives to 
keep His holy commandments. Having taken solemn 
vows, which, alas ! w r e have so often violated, we 
must endeavor by God's help to keep them inviolate 
to our life's end. As " the children of the flesh are not 
the children of God," we must crucify the flesh with 
its affections and lusts." Unable of ourselves to do 
anything that is good, we must pray God to perfect 
His strength in our weakness, that our footsteps slip 
not. Then, conforming our whole life to the Pattern 
of our Saviour, we will surely find mercy by His merits . 
Seeing ourselves as we are — seeing ourselves as God 
sees us — our heart, our life, our character, secret and 
open, the depth into which by sin we have fallen, the 
height from w^hich we have fallen, is God's love not 
wonderful that He should follow man into such depths 
of sin; and His mercy that He should, in spite of 



FIFTEENTH DAY OF LENT. 93 

man's fluctuations, forgive and translate him into the 
Kingdom of His Dear Son? Yet He "pardoneth 
iniquity, and passeth by the transgressions of His 
heritage ; He retaineth not His anger forever, because 
He delighteth in mercy ; He will turn again ; He will 
have compassion upon us ; He will subdue our iniqui- 
ties ; He will cast all our sins into the depths of the 
sea." 

Then why should we not — you and I — turn unto 
the Lord our God, and give Him the sacrifice of " our- 
selves, our souls and bodies," in thankful service for 
such merciful kindness ? What stubborn hearts have 
we — you and I — what cold and wayward spirits — 
that w r e cannot give Him the honor due unto His 
name! Where are our thoughts that we mind not 
God who thinketh upon mercy? Oh, let us dedicate 
ourselves this day anew to His blessed service, in 
body and in soul, in feeling, thinking, willing and 
doing, that, He in us and we in Him, we may have 
peace in ourselves and unbroken union with God. 



SIXTEENTH DAY OF LENT. 

"Have mercy on me." 

And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy 
on me. — St. Luke xviii. 38. 

WE all know the story. They were on their way 
to Jerusalem — Christ and the disciples. He 
told them how that all that was written of Him 
should be fulfilled ; how He should be betrayed and 
delivered into the hands of His enemies; how He 
should be mocked and scourged and spitefully en- 
treated, and put to death. He told them how He 
must suffer for the many — the Just for the unjust — 
that the prophecies might be fulfilled, and the unjust 
many might be justified and saved. 

On the way they pass by a blind beggar. Aston- 
ished at the unusual din of men's voices, and the 
strange sayings, the beggar asks : " What means this 
tumult ? " Told that it is the Lord and Master, with 
His disciples, he beseeches the Lord's blessing, and 
prays that he may receive sight. Behold ! it is done. 

The blind man is a poor man; poor in worldly 
goods and possessions, poor in bodily health and 
strength ; sick, sore, blind, infirm, tottering, helpless, 
distressed, he is, to all appearances, a miserable and 
pitiable portion of humanity. He presented a sad 
picture, indeed. He had no home, no friends, no care 
such as a poor, blind and helpless man should have. 



SIXTEENTH DAY OF LENT. 95 

Left to take care of himself as best he could, he 
roamed from city to city, and sat by the wayside 
begging. Whatever compassion the passers-by might 
have on him, was all the cheer and comfort he had in 
this world. 

Beloved, is this not a picture of us all? Are we 
not all in spiritual poverty and nakedness, blind of 
heart and sick of soul, entirely helpless under the 
powerful dominion of Satan and sin? Are we not 
all — you and I — blind to all the signs of God's good- 
ness ; deaf to all the voices by which He speaks to 
our hearts; and dumb when we should have upon 
our lips the accents of prayer, or praise, or thanks- 
giving? They that went with Christ rebuked the 
blind man, that he should hold his peace; and the 
multitudes that follow us — legions of evil spirits — 
beg us be still and let our Saviour pass by. Those 
sins, small and great, secret and open, that have 
taken such hold upon us, that beset us before and be- 
hind, cast their poisonous influence over our hearts 
and our consciences, bidding us stifle every cry for 
mercy and help from our merciful Lord, hoping that 
they may, a while longer, reign supreme in our hearts 
and feast upon our souls. And, alas! too often the 
evil spirits have their own way; and Christ, who 
may have stopped to hear and help us, passes b} r in 
silence and in sorrow. 

Therefore, let us learn a lesson from the blind beg- 
gar. He knew his infirmities, and sought relief from 
the Great Physician, Healer of souls and bodies. He 
knew his sins and shortcomings, and sought for- 
giveness and redemption. He knew his poverty of 
worldly goods, and sought the unbounded wealth of 



96 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

the heavenly. He was without earthly friends, and 
sought Him who is the " Friend indeed/ ' In his dire 
extremity he called for help, and was helped. Disre- 
garding the rebukes of the multitude, who would 
have deprived him of the consolation he so much 
craved, he continued his cry: "Son of David, have 
mercy on me." So should, and so must we — you 
and I — if we wish to be helped. The beggar's idea 
of Christ must be our idea ; and our entreaties must 
be as earnest as his. Would God we were blind, then 
should we also see — blind to the world, to the flesh, 
to the Devil; blind to all that leads us away from 
Christ — then should we see our sins, and see the 
glory of Christ and of His Cross that covers all sin. 
The pleasures of the world now cloud our eyes, that 
we see not the infinitely more pleasant things of God. 
Ourworldly-mindedness hides from our eyes the love, 
the mercy, and the grace of our Saviour. We are 
continually occupied with such things as profit noth- 
ing to the soul ; and only a moment is devoted to the 
work of our salvation. What if we do busy our- 
selves with this world's goods? — is the world gained, 
there is nothing gained ; but, is the soul lost, all is lost. 
Would, then, that we had the blindness of this way- 
side beggar, then we might see our faults and follies, 
our sins and shortcomings, our misery- and wretched- 
ness, and cry for spiritual sight — that sight which 
comes of a pure heart. Then, indeed, would the 
Kingdom of God be nigh at hand — nay, within our 
souls. 

How often do we need merc}^! Never a day but 
Ave need the strong arm of our Lord to overcome 
Satan ; or His grace to withstand temptation. Even 



SIXTEENTH DAY OF LENT. 97 

then, we frequently fall, because we have not that 
steadfast faith which is so necessary in all the as- 
saults of evil. We are prone to all evil, and back- 
ward to all good; and we need mercy all the day long. 
Then let this prayer for mercy be on our lips all the 
daylong : " Have mercy on me, God, after Thy great 
goodness ; " and the Lord, out of the great goodness 
of His great Heart, will have mercy, and forgive. 
Then we will learn how true are the prophet's words : 
" How great is the loving-kindness of the Lord our 
God, and His compassion unto such as turn unto 
Him in holiness. " 

"Have mercy, Lord, on me, 
As Thou wert ever kind ; 
Let me, oppress 'd with loads of guilt, 
Thy wonted mercy find. 

"Wash off my foul offence, 

And cleanse me from my sin; 
For I confess my crime, and see 
How great my guilt has been. 

1 ' Blot out my crying sin, 

Nor me in anger view; 
Create in me a heart that's clean, 
An upright mind renew. 

"Withdraw not Thou Thy help, 
Nor cast me from Thy sight; 
Nor let Thy Holy Spirit take 
His everlasting flight. 

"Have mercy, Lord, on me, 
As Thou wert ever kind ; 
Let me, oppressed with loads of sin, 
Thy wonted mercy find." 

Yea, conscious of those sins whereof our conscience 
is afraid, and of those offences of lip and heart which 



98 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

we constantly commit, let our constant cry be : " Son 
of David, have mercy on me." And then, in the 
clouds will appear the sunshine ; and in the stillness 
will come a Voice — a sweet, low, soft, tender Voice — 
full of sympathy, and love, and blessing; and o'er 
the heart will steal a peace that passeth understand- 
ing — the peace of God — the peace of mercy and for- 
giveness. 



SEVENTEENTH DAY OF LENT. 

The Sinner's Friend. 

A friend of publicans and sinners. — St. Matthew xi. 19. 

THESE words were not spoken with any inten- 
tion to please or compliment. They were not 
meant to discribe with admiration the character of 
Christ. They were not spoken by one who would, 
under any circumstances, have complimented Him. 
They were spoken in scornful and contemptuous 
mood, and by an enemy; like many other things 
that were said of Him, that spoke truth but were 
not meant to do Him credit, — like the charge, "this 
man receiveth sinners and eateth with them," and 
like the inscription on the Cross. Yet what was 
meant as a reproach has come to be an honor ; what 
was a reflection upon His character has come to be a 
source of happiness to us who are His people. 

Who is a sinner, and how is Christ the Friend of 
sinners ? Let us look for a while at these two ques- 
tions that grow out of our text. 

Who is a sinner ? If we are honest when this 
question is put, we are each of us thinking of our- 
selves. We do not ask, am I a sinner ? but we say, I 
am a sinner, I am the sinner. t We feel the infection of 
sin in us, and in all; we see it working in us, and in 
all; so that "if we say," or any one says, " that we 
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is 
not in us." Not only so, but the guilt and condem- 



100 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

nation of sin is upon us all. We feel a load of in- 
iquity. We feel the burden of good things left un- 
done, and of evil things which we have done. We 
feel the weakness of our flesh in doing that which we 
ought to do, and an inclination to do that which we 
ought not to do. We know and feel our sins against 
light and conviction, against warnings and mercies ; 
while we have sinned, and sinned, and sinned again, 
and loved to sin, notwithstanding our better knowl- 
edge and the protests of our conscience. And we 
know and feel our sins of ignorance by the marks 
they have left upon us, the weakness they have left 
us in, the increasing inclination to sin, the increasing 
feebleness of conscience. Sin is the fatal disease of 
our souls ; the plague of our hearts, the blight of our 
lives, most malignant and desperate. We are con- 
scious of its presence in our thoughts ; we see it in 
the words of our mouths and the meditations of our 
hearts ; we feel it working towards the ends of our 
fingers to do that which we ought not ; and bidding 
our feet to walk in paths that are forbidden. There 
is scarce a moment of our w-akeful lives, when it does 
not lift its head to do that w-hich is amiss. "All 
have sinned.' ' "All we like sheep have gone astray." 
"There is none that doeth good, no, not one." All 
are sinners. In our trials innumerable, we sorely 
feel the need of a Friend ; in our sorrows and dis- 
tresses we feel the need of a Comforter ; in our humili- 
ating defeats and falls, we feel the need of a strong 
arm able and willing to help and defend. In our 
darkest hour, in our gloomiest prospects, in the 
slough of despair, even though fallen and outcast, we 
are here made to look on One who is the Friend of 



SEVENTEENTH DA Y OF LENT. 101 

publicans and sinners ; and made to look to Him as 
our Helper and Defender ; One who has offered Him- 
self to sinners and not to the righteous, to the sick 
and not to them that need not a physician; One 
whose whole earthly life was spent among sinners 
and for their everlasting good ; whose every thought 
was upon them and their needs ; whose every word 
was uttered in their behalf, calling them to repent- 
ance, and teaching them sound doctrine. In Doctrine 
and Life, by words and works, He proved Himself 
pre-eminently the " friend of publicans and sinners/ ' 

Let us see how He is this more particularly. 

In the first place and decidedly not, as many 
among us are friends of sinners, by aiding and abet- 
ting sinners in their wicked deeds ; not by participat- 
ing in their vices and crimes ; not by pointing out 
new paths of sin and following with them these for- 
bidden paths to the end, in wilful forgetfulness of 
duty and in delight of the evil. Not so was He the 
sinner's Friend, and not so is He now. 

Nor is He the sinner's Friend by merely offering 
wholesome counsel and sound advice; by holding 
them at arm's length as if association were con- 
tamination; by looking down on them with pity but 
with dignified courtesy, and pointing them to the 
way wherein they should go. Not this sort of a 
Friend was He any- more than He was the other. 
This would not have inspired the love of sinners ; 
nor would the other have left Him sinless. This 
would not have shown His love for sinners ; and the 
other would have shown His love for sin. He is the 
sinner's Friend in a far different sense, and in a far 
higher degree. 



102 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

The purpose of His coming into the world reveals 
most clearly the nature of His friendship and its sur- 
passing value. Though "Hecameunto His own and 
His own received Him not," He came into the world 
"that the world through Him might be saved." 
"The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the 
world." He not only left the highest seat of power 
and honor in Heaven — yea, the Throne of Heaven, 
but He stooped ¥o the lowest level of sinful man, 
that He might, as Man, know their perplexities and 
wants; feel their lot and station; sympathize with 
them in their hopes, and fears, and trials, and diffi- 
culties, and dangers ; give them help in time of need ; 
and save to the uttermost, even with the gift of par- 
don for their sins and life eternal, all them that come 
unto Him in repentance and faith. 

In this spirit He entered upon His Ministry; in 
this spirit He wrought miracles of wonder and of 
healing ; in this spirit He taught the multitudes that 
came unto Him. Most of His miracles show the 
tenderness and warmth of His Heart towards sor- 
rowing or suffering man; all His Parables show the 
tenderness and love of His Soul for the people who 
sit in darkness ; both His miracles and parables 
show the message He bore to the hearts of sinful 
men — the message of mercy, of grace, of pardon, of 
love; both show the fulness of His Heart toward 
publicans and sinners, and the longing of the Father 
to release them from those bonds that hold and 
oppress them, and to give them the liberty of life 
Divine. He ate with publicans and sinners, no house 
being too humble to give Him shelter; no table too 
frugally spread to satisfy His desire. His Apostles 



SEVEXTEEXTH DAY OF LENT. 103 

were selected not from the wealthy and influential 
Pharisees and the learned Scribes, but from the poor, 
ignorant Galilean fishermen. He never shunned the 
company of any who had need of Him, nor excluded 
Himself from any to whom He could be of service. 
The application of the needy, the bitter cry of the 
sorrowful, the penitent and believing prayer of the 
sinful, never met with repulse. So full of good words 
and good deeds was He that, even in His last and 
most agonizing moments, His last words for His 
enemies were a prayer for their forgivness. 

And, as with Him on earth, so with Him in 
Heaven. As in the days of His humiliation, so in His 
exaltation. He is still " touched with the feeling of 
our infirmities ; " and, because He hath entered into 
the Most Holy Place with the Blood of Atonement, 
He is still more powerful to save. Bearing the whole 
burden of human sin, feeling the weight of human 
guilt, and knowing our weakness and inability to do 
that which is right, He is now more than ever our 
Intercessor and Advocate — the Friend of publicans 
and sinners. 

All have sinned, and so He is the Friend of all. 
None are left out. His friendship is as all-embracing 
as sin is from which He longs to deliver us. None 
are excluded from His mercy, from His grace, from 
His pardon, from His love, from His everlasting life, 
except those who exclude themselves. He will be 
your Friend, He will be mine, if we will let Him; 
your Intercessor and mine, if we will not, like the 
Gadarene herdsmen, pray Him to go out of our 
coasts, preferring our swine to our Saviour. He is 
ever accessible, ever near, ever present, ever gracious, 



104 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

compassionate and forgiving; His Ear is ever open 
and listening for the cry of publicans and sinners; 
His Heart ever longing for their loving service. Let 
us, then, in our helplessness look to Him for help ; in 
our temptations look to Him for succor ; in our sins 
look to Him for pardon and grace. 



EIGHTEENTH DAY OF LENT. 

Jesus our High Priest. 

We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with 
the feeling of our infirmities; hut was in all points tempted like 
as we are, yet without sin. — Hebrews iv. 15. 

HOW can One who is sinless sympathize with sin- 
ners ? How can He look with any feeling other 
than anger upon sin ? How can He enter into our 
sorrows, and know that pain, and anguish, and 
shame, and remorse, and self-abhorrence which come 
with sin ? He has no consciousness of sin ; He had 
no taste of its bitterness ; He felt not the piercing 
shafts of guilt, and wept not the hot tears of repent- 
ance. How can He, then, be touched with the feel- 
ing of these our greatest infirmities? He and the 
Prince of this world, His Spirit and the spirit of evil, 
had nothing in common. He was "holy, harmless, 
undefiled, separate from sinners/ ' How can He, 
then, know and understand, and feel in His own soul 
what sin is to us — what its power, its sting, its 
guilt? It seems to us impossible; but seems so only 
because it is a mystery. 

He who is pure and holy, and full of fear of even 
so much as the least sullying thought; who walks 
with God, clothed even now in the saintly whiteness ; 
who feels the love of God shed abroad in his heart, 
and whose soul lives in the stillness of eternal peace ; 



106 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

who knows the power of God's mercy, and forgive- 
ness, and grace, and help ; who values and treasures 
his sonship and fellowship with God ; he it is who 
can feel for and sympathize with one who has fallen. 
His sense of all the good he enjoys, his participation 
in holiness, makes him deeply sensible of that which 
the fallen creature lacks or has lost; and his heart 
goes out to the sinner in pity, sorrow, and sympathy 
and compassion. 

So it is with Christ. His own purity and holiness 
is the source of all His pity and compassion for sin- 
ners. Sin cannot condemn sin, and sinners cannot 
judge sinners. He alone can judge sin ; He alone can 
attemper justice and mercy to the weakness and 
frailty of man, who, though He felt the power of 
temptation in all its might, came scathless through 
the trial, pure and holy in His mind and heart. And 
it was by that bitter temptation that He learned the 
powder of sin, and w^as " touched with the feeling of 
our infirmities." It was not only as Man, but as be- 
ing " tempted like as we are," and feeling in His own 
human Body all its fearful susceptibility of tempta- 
tion and sin, that He "know r eth our frame, and re- 
membereth that we are but dust." 

Nay, more than this, still. It was not merely by 
His perfect holiness, and His knowledge of us gained 
by experience with us in our sins ; but it was also by 
His own bitter experience with " the wages of sin," 
that Heknoweth our infirmities and pitieth us. He 
was despised and rejected of men. "He bore our 
griefs and carried our sorrows." "He was w^ounded 
for our transgressions, and was bruised for our ini- 
quities." In these experiences, and in His last mor- 



EIGHTEEXTH DAY OF LEXT. 107 

tal agonies, ''He was made perfect through suffer- 
ing." "He bore our sins in His own Body on the 
Tree." And by these He knew the power and the 
guilt of sin ; by these He was touched with the feel- 
ing of our infirmities ; " and by these He w^as moved, 
as our " Great High Priest," to offer Himself to God, 
the propitiatory Sacrifice for the world's stupendous 
guilt. 

He offered Himself to God as Man. Alan had 
sinned, and man had to make reparation for sin. So 
He became Alan, and represented humanity, both in 
its perfected state and in its fulfilled relations with 
God. As Alan He was so much part of ourselves 
that all that He was, and suffered, and did was our 
own, and ourselves in Him doing, and suffering, and 
sacrificing, and atoning. "All that He was He imparts 
to each one of us in its fullest spirit and power. All 
that He did He did as Alan identified with each one 
of us. As "without shedding of blood there is no re- 
mission," so He " offered sacrifice" for sin — Himself, 
yet each one of us in Him. As a faithful High Priest 
He "died unto sin once;" and as a faithful High 
Priest He . " ever liveth to make intercession for us." 

It is this that forces from Him, for each one of us, 
that separate, special discriminating love. It is this 
— 4 i touched with the feeling of our infirmities " — that 
makes the Eternal Bosom heave with sorrow for our 
misdeeds ; and that brings to us, from His " Everlast- 
ing Arms," "grace to help in time of need." It is 
this that moves Him to call us to repentance ; to in- 
vite us to the love-feast ; to speak to us words of com- 
fort, and grace, and blessing. It is this that makes 
Him love the sinner, though He hates the sin. And it 



108 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

is this, too — this love and sympathy for us in our in- 
firmities and sins, " knowing whereof we are made/ ' 
— that makes Him the " merciful and faithful High 
Priest in things pertaining to God, to make recon- 
ciliation for the sins of the people/ ' 

What a blessed truth, a blessed fact, is stored up 
in that word " reconciliation/ ' for us and all men in 
their sins and infirmities! By the exercise of His 
Priestly Office we are now reconciled to God, and 
God to us. God is no longer an angry God, but a 
loving Father; and we are His own well-beloved chil- 
dren. What the High Priest was to Israel on the 
Day of Atonement, that Christ is to His Church; 
and all the blessings covenanted in Him, the fulness 
of blessing " received of the Father," are ours on our 
becoming His. By the exercise of His Priestly Office 
He has " redeemed transgressions," and won for us 
an "eternal inheritance." In the exercise of His 
Priestly Office He (and we in Him) have passed within 
the veil — He has entered the Holy of Holies above — 
and there " continueth now " the Mediator of a new 
covenant," our " Intercessor and Advocate." By the 
exercise of His Priestly Office He applies to us — to 
our hearts, our souls, our nature — the Blood of " the 
Lamb that was slain," and washes away our con- 
fessed and forsaken sins — yours and mine. On the 
Throne of Heaven He (and we in Him) ask, "with 
authority," for mercy and pardon, for compassion 
and grace; and intercedes (He, and we in Him) with 
the Five Wounds in His Body, with the Blood of the 
Everlasting Covenant, for forgiveness of our sins and 
restoration to God's favor and blessing. 

But is this all? Are we to rely entirely on His 



EIGHTEENTH DAY OF LEXT. 109 

Priestly Office, and trust to God's mercy for pardon ? 
No. We ourselves have a work to do, an offering to 
make. We must go to Him who first came to us, 
and place ourselves in penitence at His feet. We 
must uncover our shame with honest and contrite 
hearts. We must fall to the earth with the publican's 
prayer: "God be merciful to me a sinner." Or, if 
words fail us, abase ourselves in silence, and let our 
silence appeal to the sympathies of Him who, in the 
garden, "fell on His face" under the burden of our 
infirmities. Heavy is the load, oppressive the burden, 
of our sins — your sins and mine, and the sins of the 
whole world from Adam until now. Yet He patiently 
bore it all then, and He willingly forgives it all now. 
While we would not so much as lift our eyes unto 
heaven, but bitterly denounce and condemn ourselves, 
His Face is lifted up in pity and forgiveness upon us. 
While in bitterness of soul we chastise ourselves, His 
peace sinks down into our afflicted hearts. When, in 
heavy hours and mournful days, in bewilderment of 
heart and remorse; "when our hearts are smitten 
down within us, and withered like grass ; " when, re- 
pentant and confessing, we bend before Him in secret 
indignation and shame for our sins, His consolation 
and grace will distil upon our hearts as the dews of 
early morning wet the thirsty plant. Then that 
Blood, which is the true Covenant — the Blood of our 
"merciful and faithful High Priest," which alone can 
wash the soul of every foul spot — will "cleanse us 
from all unrighteousness." 



NINETEENTH DAY OF LENT. 
Jesus the Good Shepherd. 
I am the Good Shepherd. — St. John x. 11. 

THE bigoted, tyrannical, and cruel conduct of the 
Pharisees toward one who was cured of his 
blindness and then confessed Christ as a Prophet, 
caused Christ to draw a parallel between them and 
Himself, and to contrast, in sharpest lines, their work 
and motives with His work and motives. They were 
blind guides, false and hypocritical shepherds; He 
was the true and sincere Shepherd of the flock, and 
' ' the Light of the world.' ' 

This gave us one of the most beautiful and affect- 
ing allegories found in the Bible, or in any literature ; 
and is called the Parable of the Good Shepherd. So 
well does it teach the work of Christ, and His devo- 
tion to it, and so w^ell is it fitted to inspire us with 
love for Him, and obedience to Him, that the Church 
has appointed it to be read, in whole or in part, five 
times during the year. 

Christ calls Himself not only the Shepherd, but, in 
comparison with the Pharisees, the Good Shepherd; — 
good in all the things which are characteristic of a 
faithful shepherd. He cares for us, His sheep; feeds 
us ; and, as is often necessary in a shepherd's efforts 
to save his sheep from death, He died for us. 

He cares for us. He is watching and guarding us 
incessantly. He bring us by paths we do not know ; 



NINETEENTH DAY OF LENT. Ill 

makes crooked ways straight, and darkness light be- 
fore us ; never leaves us, and never forsakes us. The 
way may often be full of thorns and briars ; there 
may be many anxious cares and perplexities. But 
He beats down the thorns and briars, so that we 
may go without harm or hurt; He takes our cares 
upon Himself, and solves for us our perplexities, so 
that we may possess our souls in peace. If the way 
through which w r e must go is narrow, He goes before 
and selects the best places for us to step ; if it leads 
beside a precipice, and there is danger of falling, He 
gives us a greater measure of His grace, and leads us 
more tenderly and carefully; for He is not willing 
that any should perish, but that all should have life, 
and should have it more abundantly. If we are foot- 
sore, wounded, or sick, He carries us on His shoul- 
der, and binds up our bleeding wounds. Thus, in all 
our sins and shortcomings, He is more than Good 
Shepherd, because, besides giving us His tenderest 
help, He gives us of His grace and Spirit, to with- 
stand and overcome temptations and assaults, to 
bear the load that wearies us, to resign ourselves to 
the cares from which we cannot flee, and to carry the 
griefs and sorrows which we cannot tell, but which 
He knows so well. 

He also feeds us. "He maketh us to lie down in 
green pastures ; He leadeth us beside the still waters. 
He prepares a table before us in the presence of our 
enemies;" and "in all the changes and chances of 
this mortal life," in the Shepherd's keeping we can 
lack nothing. If the best pastures lie beyond the 
mountains of trial and across the deserts of grief, 
wdiere thorns pierce the body and sharp stones bruise 



112 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

the feet, and the sultry sun pours down a perilous 
heat; or if our path lie past the cane where the 
howling of bears is heard, or past the thicket where 
the wolf lies in wait; yet He will lead, guard and 
defend from evil solicitations, afflictions of body and 
distress of mind ; He will comfort and succour, and 
make the feast all the more bounteous and taste all 
the sweeter. He feeds us not alone with earthly food. 
There is greater and better that He gives us, and 
gives with a lavish hand, and out of the abundance 
of His store — Manna from Heaven, Food of Angels, 
Bread of Life, His own dear Body, and His own pre- 
cious Blood. In the Sacrament of the Altar He s:ives 
us what we have not that is good. He shows us the 
secrets of His Heart's Love, and gives us spiritual 
nourishment and refreshment, pardon and grace and 
life — His Life. Eating this Divine Food more and 
more, His Life flows into our life more and more; 
our poor life is enriched; our weak life is strength- 
ened ; our sinful life is sanctified. Then we have life, 
indeed — eternal life ; for, ' ' he that eateth of this Bread 
shall live forever." 

Yet, He also died for us. Such was His devotion 
to His Shepherd-Office, such His Love for His sheep — 
wandering, erring, rebellious, sinful sheep — that He 
"laid down His Life for the sheep/ ' Often a shep- 
herd carries his life in his own hands in the care and 
defence of his flock. Thieves, and wolves, and preci- 
pices imperil him as much as they do his sheep ; and 
often, in braving these dangers for his sheep, he loses 
his own life. So the Good Shepherd, who, from all 
eternity, was most blessed, abiding with the Father, 
in the unity of the Holy Ghost, in glory unspeakable, 



NINETEENTH DAY OF LENT 113 

yet in His pure and unspotted Heart had s\^mpathy 
with us in our extreme suffering by reason of sin ; in 
His most Holy Spirit He tasted the bitterness of sin 
and endured its burden ; and yielded up Himself to 
be overshadowed, as with a horror of great dark- 
ness, that we might be brought to light, and might 
be saved from our sins and live. For us, He was 
bruised and spitted on, mocked and despised ; for us, 
He was bowed down with grief and convulsed with 
the pangs of bitter pain; for us, "He endured the 
Cross, despising the shame." " Greater love hath no 
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his 
friends. " And He, who "had power to lay it down 
and to take it again," gave up His Life, in voluntary 
and loving sacrifice, for the sins of His people — for 
your sins and mine — for you and for me. 

Thus the shepherd cares for, feeds, and, if neces- 
sary, will die for, his sheep. All this the Good Shep- 
herd does, or has done, for us. For this devoted at- 
tachment of the shepherd for his sheep, the sheep will 
form an attachment for the shepherd. They not only 
know him, but "know his voice;" will hear, and 
obey, and follow, and trust him. Wherever he leads, 
they will follow ; whatever he requires of them, they 
will do. This same devotion, this love and obedi- 
ence, the Good Shepherd expects from us, His sheep — 
once His lost sheep — for whom He endured and suf- 
fered so much. 

But, alas ! He often expects in vain. We do not 
love as w^e should. We do not obey as we ought. He 
speaks, but we do not hear. He calls, but we give no 
heed. He leads, but w^e do not follow. He com- 
mands, but we do not obey. He succours us, but we 



114 SIN AND O UR SA VIO UR. 

remain ungrateful. He loves us, but we are indiffer- 
ent and cold. We prefer the plain to the sheepfold, 
though we see the lion ready to devour us. We pre- 
fer the thicket to the safe enclosure, though we hear 
wild beasts in every direction, which will prey upon 
us. In the foolishness and perverseness of our hearts, 
we leave the Shepherd and the pastures He provides, 
and go to what we think are greener and better pas- 
tures and purer and sweeter waters, regardless of the 
many dangers and temptations with which our way 
is beset. We want more worldliness than is con- 
sistent with our Christian profession. Self-will, evil 
tempers, fierce passions possess us, and we thereby 
quench the Spirit and. " crucify the Son of God afresh 
and put Him to an open shame." Worldly cares, 
worldty company, worldly pleasures, evil pursuits, 
"the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the 
pride of life," all tempt us away from the Shepherd 
and the flock, from the Divine blessings and the Di- 
vine care; and we go on in the world, to the end of 
our course, and are lost. 

Let us give up self-will, curb our tempers, govern 
our passions, forsake all worldliness, as by our Chris- 
tian profession we are bound to do ; and live only, 
trustfully and obediently, in the fold of our Divine 
Shepherd. Then "His rod and His staff shall com- 
fort us," and "goodness and mercy shall follow us 
all the days of our life, and we will dwell in the house 
of the Lord forever." 



TWENTIETH DAY OF LENT. 
Jesus at the Door. 
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. — Revelation iii. 20. 

OUR Lord comes to us in various ways, and often. 
But far too often we either see Him not, or 
know Him not, or, knowing Him, refuse Him en- 
trance or slight Him entirely. Every event in our 
lives which has a marked character, every turning 
point, every illness or affliction, every great loss or 
heavy disappointment or bitter bereavement, brings 
Christ to us with a message of better things to come. 
In all our blighted hopes, in all our thwarted wishes, 
in all that darkens our path or clouds our souls, 
Christ comes with a surer hope and a truer happi- 
ness. In every stirring of conscience, and every seri- 
ous thought ; in sudden visitations and in the whis- 
pering of the wind ; in the pursuit of pleasure or sin 
by day, and in the quiet hour of the night, Christ 
comes to us and speaks of repentance and self-conse- 
cration, of a life of godliness and a life everlasting. 
When we live away from God He comes to us and 
asks, as He asked Adam, " Where art thou ? " When 
we are helplessly under the dominion of sin, He 
pleads with us as Moses pleaded with his father-in- 
law, saying: " Come thou with us and we will do 
thee good." In all our losses and disappointments 
He comes and speaks of a " better part which shall 



116 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

not be taken away from us," u an inheritance incor- 
ruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." 

He comes to us also in the preaching of His Word, 
and in the administration of His Sacraments ; in holy 
days and holy seasons, when we commemorate " the 
mystery of His holy Incarnation," or His "holy 
Nativity" or "Circumcision," His "Baptism, Fast- 
ing, and Temptation," His "Agony and Bloody 
Sweat," "His Cross and Passion, precious Death and 
Burial, glorious Resurrection and Ascension," and 
"the coming of the Holy Ghost;" in all these He 
comes to all of us — to each one of us — to you and to 
me — with a message of love and mercy, grace and 
forgiveness, of repentance and faith and obedience. 

But alas ! for the hardness of our hearts, and the 
sinfulness of our souls, we will not look up and be- 
hold His coming ; we will not hear His knocking ; we 
will not open the door that He may enter in. He 
stands without in patience and meekness, and knocks, 
and knocks, and knocks, but we are never so deaf as 
when He asks to come into our hearts. Hear Him 
say as He stands there and knocks: "If any man 
hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to 
him and will sup with him and he with Me," and 
"My Father will love him and We will come unto 
Him and make Our abode with him;" "I will not 
leave you comfortless." Yet we hear Him not. He 
will sup with us and we with Him, and will not leave 
us comfortless; not only He, but the Father also 
will abide with us, and abide forever, if we will let 
Him; but these inducements are nothing compared 
with those attractions of "the world, the flesh, and 
the devil" to which we seem bound as it were by 



TWENTIETH DAY OF LEXT. 117 

adamantine chains. We want Him not yet, we want 
none of His blessings, great and good though we 
know them to be; but we want them not yet. A 
little more of the world, of worldly pleasures, of the 
worship of Mammon; a little more of this, and of 
that, though they are corruptible as the beasts that 
perish. A little more of "the earth, earthy," and 
then all of heaven ; a little more of time and tem- 
poral pursuits, and then a thought upon eternity and 
eternal things. We have no time now for things so 
distant and future. 

No wonder He comes to us, and knocks, and de- 
sires to come into our hearts. Such hearts most 
need His coming. Hearts so worldly, souls so sinful, 
as those that have no thought of God and eternity, 
surely most need the Saviour's coming. Look at 
our hearts — yours and mine. Are they swept and 
garnished, or do seven other spirits more wicked 
than before inhabit them? Look no further than 
the door, see where Christ now stands, see what 
meets His Eye as He stands there and knocks. See 
the grass and weeds that fill the path which leads to 
our hearts, over which Christ had to come to get to 
our hearts. See the briars and vines that are trail- 
ing wildly over the door. See all the rank growths 
that pain His Eye, and indicate the desolation and 
poverty of soul within — that indicate our sins and 
evils, our faults and shortcomings. Long neglect of 
our hearts has filled them, and covered them within 
and without, with the wild and bitter fruits of wick- 
edness. And now Christ stands at the door and 
knocks, wishing to be let in, wishing to drive out 
these evil spirits, wishing to cleanse and purify and 



118 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

sanctify our hearts, and to make them His dwelling- 
place, and temples of the Holy Spirit, forever. 

He knocks loud and long. Again and again He 
knocks. He looks tired as He stands there waiting 
to be let in; sad and anxious, careworn, expectant 
and wondering — expecting to enter in and wondering 
why we do not open. That look of hope which filled 
His Eye when He first came has left, and He is now 
down-cast and disappointed. You can see by the 
deep lines on His Brow, by His bent Form and His 
slow step, that He has gone through much suffering, 
a sorrow even unto death. We see a crown of thorns 
encircling His Brow, and Blood flowing where the 
sharp prongs pierced His Flesh. As He looks up you 
may see tears on His Cheeks, tears of sorrow and 
anguish for the sins of His people. You may see the 
expression on His Face grow more sad and His E}^es 
more tearful as He is kept waiting. Now and then 
you may hear Him say: " Behold, I stand at the 
door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open 
the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him 
and he with Me." But he is kept knocking and wait- 
ing and waiting and knocking. Either we hear Him 
not for the noise inside, or our business and cares pre- 
occupy us so that we heed nothing besides. 

As He knocks we see a w-ound in His Hand — a 
wound in each Hand, and in His Feet, and His Side; 
and we hear the Prophet saying unto us : "He was 
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for 
our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was 
upon Him." For you and for me was He wounded 
and bruised, for your transgressions and iniquities 
and mine; yet He knocks, but we will not hear; He 



TWENTIETH DAY OF LENT. 119 

speaks but we will not listen; He shows us His 
wounds but we are not touched; He would comfort 
us and sup with us, but we will not open. 

And what is that supping with Him and with the 
Father of which He speaks? It is the fulness of 
heavenly blessings, " the fulness of God." It is grace 
and mercy, and pardon and peace. It is kindness and 
love and hope and strength. It is life and holiness 
and sanctification and redemption, — immortality in 
which all other blessings are gathered and towards 
which all others tend. All that His Love can accom- 
plish in us, all that His Heart can bestow, He will 
give us, if we will hear His Voice and let Him enter 
our hearts. 

There are many w^ho w r ill never hear and never 
open. He knocks again and again, and listens for 
the footsteps of the one within to come and let Him 
in; but no. He must turn away and go ; and as He 
goes we hear Him say: "They will not come to Me 
that they might have life." "If thou hadst known, 
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which 
belong unto thy peace ; but now they are hid from 
thine eyes." That soul wants not Christ, and Christ 
cannot bless him. As in the days of His Flesh, so 
often even now, "He comes unto His own, but His 
own receives Him not." 

Can it be possible that there is one among us 
who keeps Christ knocking and waiting, who will 
not let Him in ? Nay, rather let me believe that we 
are all faithful disciples of our Lord. Poor as w r e are, 
let me think that we are all " rich in faith " and in re- 
demption. Wretched as we are, let me think that we 
are all made clean in the Blood of the Lamb. Weak, 



120 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

sinful and unworthy, as all men are, let me think that 
our hearts are all lit up with the smile of a Divine 
Guest; and that our souls are furnished with the 
goodly adornments of the saints in light. In want 
as we are, and as all men are, let me think that there 
is One abiding with us, who provides, out of His 
abundant store, that " hidden Manna" which nour- 
ishes life everlasting ; and that there is One supping 
with us and we with Him, whose presence is fulness 
of joy for evermore. 






TWENTY-FIRST DAY OF LENT. 
Jesus the Water of Life. 

If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. — St. John 
vii. 37. 

Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall 
never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a 
well of water springing up into everlasting life. — St. Joan iv. 14. 

CHRIST and His disciples had come a distance of 
twenty miles, in the sultry heat and dust ; and 
now, towards evening, they were at the well of 
S^^char, foot-sore, weary and hungry. While the 
greater number of disciples w r ere in the town to buy 
food that all might eat, the Samaritan woman came 
to the well to draw water. It was the well which 
our Lord's great ancestor, and the ancestor of all 
Israel, had digged; the well also where w^as the first 
rebellion against God's order, against the Davidic 
line and against the Temple. Here then surely was a 
place where Christ's Heart, full of sadness because 
of His expulsion from the Temple and the Holy City, 
would yearn for the love of all God's people, and 
think of the breach and of what alone could heal it. 
Forgetful of His own hunger of Body, He thought 
far more of that spiritual hunger and thirst, and of 
that Meat and Drink which is the Food of the soul. 
By the side of this ancient well, weary and thirsty, 
He thought of that other Well, and its water of life, 
of which whosoever drinketh shall never thirst again ; 



122 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

water of everlasting life, given in unfailing supply 
and unending refreshment. 

But she, who was the occasion of this beautiful 
doctrine, was a Samaritaness, poor, ignorant, and 
of low birth and character ; and the Israelite has no 
dealings with the Samaritan other than necessity 
requires. Her surprise can therefore be imagined 
when, on coming to the well where Christ sat, she 
heard Him not only ask for a drink, but enter into 
conversation with her. 

This very fact, if she gave any thought at all to it, 
taught her that the Man before her was no ordinary 
man such as she saw every day. He was not a Jew 
like those she had hitherto known ; not like what she 
had hitherto thought them to be. Even with this 
first request, " Give Me to drink/ ' with the tender- 
ness of His voice, the friendliness of His bearing, and 
the interest He took in her, she learned that there 
was something about the Man she had never before 
seen or known ; but what the difference was she could 
not yet see. 

But Christ did not leave her in suspense. He un- 
folded to her the history of her life, both open and 
secret, all things that ever she did; and proved to 
the astonished woman that He was a Prophet. It 
was a revelation of Himself to her, no less than a 
revelation of her past life. Was this indeed that 
Prophet promised by Moses, and foretold by the 
other prophets? Was she not beholding the long- 
expected Messiah? Was she not, perhaps, in the 
presence of the Omniscient One Himself? Yes, a 
prophet and more than a prophet, the Messiah, the 
Omniscient One in very truth ; the Lord and Giver of 



TWENTY-FIRST DAY OF LENT. 123 

Life ; for whosoever shall drink of the water which 
He will give shall never thirst, but it shall spring up 
in him into everlasting life. 

Thus the greatest boon came to the woman out 
of infinite condescension and grace. Christ approach- 
ed her with unrestrained freedom, allowed no barriers 
to stand in the way of doing good; but seeing the 
spiritual ignorance and destitution of this woman* 
He breathed into her soul the breath of a life that is 
eternal. He indeed asked of her a favor, but only that 
He might grant an infinitely greater favor in return. 
He drank of her water, but gave in unmeasured 
abundance the water of life to her who ministered to 
Him. She, too, stood beside a Well; the perennial 
fountain of life, purity, goodness, peace, and happi- 
ness. She stood spiritually foot-sore, weary, and 
parched; but as He quenched His earthly thirst with 
her earthly water, so she drank of the water which 
He alone can give, and quenched her thirst forever. 

Her material thirst is but a figure of that ever 
deeper spiritual thirst which you and I and all mor- 
tals feel or have felt at some period of our lives ; ever 
deeper and ever deepening, because contact with evil 
and sin quickens to intensity our need and our desire 
for a quenching of that thirst. As our natural and 
worldly desires are never satisfied by earthly posses- 
sions, much less can our yearning of soul be. These 
reach out after God, and eternity, and heavenly beati- 
tudes; and these are fully met and satisfied by the reve- 
lation of pardon and love in Christ, so that with one 
full draught of the living water which flows from 
Him, the soul shall never thirst. The listening heart 
of the woman began to perceive the glorious end of 



124 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

the Master's teaching, and her eyes began to fill with 
visions of unfading realities, as she " drew water out 
of the Well of salvation." So will we and all " who 
hunger and thirst after righteousness/ ' be filled and 
refreshed and satisfied, if we obey the voice of 
Christ, calling in the Temple, "If any man thirst, let 
him come unto Me and drink.' ' Washed clean from 
all stains of sin will not only be each thirsty heart 
that drinks of this fountain, but with the stream of 
living water will flow into each heart His manifold 
mercies and abundant grace. Each mortal breast 
pants far and wide for these water-brooks, though 
many, perhaps, all unknowing. Each seeks with a 
longing far from gratified the happiness found in 
Him, as the new-mown hay thirsts for the dew of 
even; and only with His sprinkling, or with His 
washing, or with His cup of living water will the 
faint heart or the parched tongue revive. 

" There is a fountain opened for all uncleanliness;" 
and to all, to you and to me, comes the voice of the 
prophet, crying : " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come 
ye to the waters ;" a Fountain that shall "purge the 
conscience from dead works to serve the living God;" 
a Fountain that shall purify and cleanse the soul, and 
yet also forever meet all its inward wants; yea, a 
Fountain that shall not only quench the thirst for- 
ever of him that drinks, but shall spring up in him 
into everlasting life. It is a Fountain of love and 
forgiveness, of consolation and peace, of mercy and 
grace not only here, but of increasing abundance of 
the gifts of God hereafter; whose source is both in 
the love that spared not His own Son, and in the 
Heart of the Son who offered Himself for us, and 



TWEXTY-FIRST DAY OF LEXT. 125 

whose final issue is in the salvation of all who are 
defiled by sin. 

Do we, you and I, feel this water of life welling up 
in our hearts ? Do we all feel our souls washed with 
the pure water that flows out of the fountain opened 
for sin in the Heart of Christ ? This cleansing and 
healing water is ever flowing out of the Well of ever- 
lasting life; and to us in our sins and shortcom- 
ings, "the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, — and let 
him that heareth say, Come, — and let him that is 
athirst come, — and whosoever will, let him take the 
water of life freely.' ' 

God grant us all this washing and this draught 
of living water; and grace ever to keep ourselves 
pure and unspotted from the w^orld. 



TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF LENT. 

Jesus the True Vine. 

I am the Vine, ye are the branches : He that abideth in Me, 
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit ; for without Me 
{or, severed from Me) ye can do nothing. — St. John xy. 5. 

THESE beautiful, comforting, and also instructive 
words belong to that part of Christ's discourse 
spoken after the institution of the Lord's Supper, and 
while He was preparing Himself and His disciples for 
those unexpected and bitter events in the last day of 
His life in the Flesh. He spoke many other com- 
forting words at the same time ; commanded them to 
love one another ; assured them of the hope of heaven ; 
professed Himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life ; 
promised them the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, and 
left them His peace ; and then, to illustrate the rela- 
tion between Himself and His disciples, He drew the 
simile of the vine and its branches. 

Christ calls Himself the True Vine ; the Father, the 
Husbandman; His disciples the branches. 

He is the True Vine, because He is the source of all 
spiritual life and its fruits. He not only has eternal 
life in Himself, but He gives this life to all who by 
baptism are engrafted into Him and covenanted 
with Him; to all who are united with Him as the 
branch is with the vine, and so are parts of Himself 
and share His Life. In this sense, and for this reason, 



TWEXTY-SECOXD DAY OF LENT, 127 



He is both "the resurrection and the life; " not only 
giving us of His Life, but raising us up from death 
and the grave, because the life which He gives us 
is eternal. 

The Father is the Husbandman. He is the origin- 
ator and owner of the vineyard. The purpose of re- 
deeming mankind through the Life-giving Vine orig- 
inated with Him. The plan by which it was accom- 
plished was devised by Him. His love cried out for 
man's salvation, and His wisdom produced the plan 
and carried it into effect. " God so loved the world," 
this sinful, guilty world, "that He gave His only begot- 
ten 'Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." "Behold what 
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us 
that we should be called the sons of God." 

The branches of this Yine are the followers, or 
disciples of Christ. Here the simile is true as well of 
good and bad members, as of good and bad branches 
on the vine. The good in both cases grow and are 
nourished, and the bad are fit only to be cut off and 
burned. As in the vine we have good and bad 
branches, so in the Church we have good and bad 
members. These last are either sincerely deluded, or 
conscious hypocrites. They are not only useless in 
themselves, but an injury to the Vine. As such 
branches mar the beauty and hinder the growth 
of the vine, so such members are a scandal to Christ 
and His Church. As such members should be. cast 
out of the Church, lopped off the Vine; so should also 
the evil tendencies of the Christian's nature be pruned 
that his graces may be more active and his fruits 
more abundant. So is character beautified and ele- 



128 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

vated also by affliction, loss of property, worldly dis- 
appointments and sickness ; by which God shows us 
the nothingness of earth and the attractiveness of 
heaven. 

But we are taught more of the necessity of abid- 
ing in, and communing with, Christ, than of pruning 
the Vine by excommunication. We are told, in words 
that are both a plea and a command : " Abide in Me, 
and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, 
except it abide in the vine ; no more can ye, except ye 
abide in Me." 

This shows the necessity of ingrafting into Him by 
baptism. For we are not members of Him by -na- 
ture, and so cannot abide in Him unless we are, by 
grace and the Sacrament of Baptism, made a member. 
By nature we are depraved and utterly sinful ; worth- 
less as dead leaves or withered shoots ; and we must 
be made alive and healthy, pure and holy, by incor- 
poration by baptism into the Body of Christ, or into 
the True Vine. Then, by the exercise of faith and 
obedience, we will grow in grace and in the full vigor 
of spiritual life. For, as the branch receives from the 
parent vine its life, its strength, its mysterious tend- 
ency to exhibit exactly the same features and fruitage 
with the original vine, so the soul that is grafted 
into Christ, and abides in Christ and Christ in it, 
will have Christ formed in him, will grow Christ-like 
in thought and purpose and will and affections. 

We cannot become this, we cannot bear spiritual 
fruit, except we abide in Him. This is a law of grace 
as of nature. It is impossible for a branch to grow 
or bear fruit, when severed from the source of its life. 
So no man can show any spiritual life apart from 



TWEXTY-SECOXD DAY OF LEXT. 129 

Christ. But in Him, he begins to show the Christ- 
like disposition, he does the Christ-like deed, he grows 
into the Christ-likeness, he becomes more and more 
Christ-like in all things as he grows older in the faith 
and fellowship ; until he has the full measure of the 
stature of the fulness of Christ. 

Then, too, this union with Christ, as the branch 
with the vine, besides giving life and strength and 
causing spiritual growth, will be a new and blessed 
experience of Christ's love. He told His disciples 
that He had loved them even as the Father had loved 
Him. When we consider that the love of the Father 
for His Son was without variation, endless and infi- 
nite, sure as the existence of God Himself; and con- 
sider, too, that the Father loved us sinners with the 
same deep, infinite, endless love, so that He gave His 
own Son to live a life of humiliation and die the 
death of shame that we sinners might be delivered 
from our sins and be saved ; then we can know also 
the wealth of love that is our inheritance, and know 
the grandest and noblest bond, not only between 
Father and Son, but between God and His faithful 
children. 

Living in the communion of God's love, another 
result of abiding in Christ is that all true branches of 
the True Vine, all true members of the one Body of 
Christ, will love one another, not merely in obedience 
to Christ's command that they should, but because, 
as branches of the same Vine, they are bound by 
common affections, and sympathies, and purposes, to 
one Master, and hence must be bound by the same 
ties to one another. As Christ loved us and gave 
Himself for us,— a love that consecrated all His 

9 



130 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

powers while living, and all His self-denials while 
dying, to the eternal good of those who were His 
bitter enemies, so should we love, not only Him but 
all who in Him are fellow-members and sharers with 
us of His gifts and blessings. His love is our model 
and the measure of our love. 

Then, in all this abiding, faithful union and obedi- 
ent following, in all this growth in grace and love, 
will appear the Father's glory — the pride and happi- 
ness of the Husbandman. As by its fruits we know 
the character of a branch, so by these we know, and 
the Father knows, that we and other members of 
Christ are true disciples, abounding in every good 
word and work. 

As a last word let me ask : Is this true of us ? 
Are we faithful and active members of Christ, 
branches of the True Vine, or is this only a theory in 
our lives? Do we bring forth the fruits of godly 
living, or are we withered and dead — fit only for 
pruning and burning ? ' ' By their fruits ye shall know 
them ; " by our fruits we can know ourselves, of what 
sort we are. Let us look well into our hearts and 
pluck out from thence every evil growth, that we 
may be worthy branches in the vineyard of our 
Lord. 



TWENTY-THIRD DAY OF LENT. 
Jesus the Bread of Life. 
I am the Bread of Life.— St. John vi. 48. 

TO escape the multitude as well as Herod, and to 
seek quiet and opportunity for meditation, 
Christ and His disciples left Capernaum and went 
into a " desert place " east of the Sea of Galilee. But 
the multitudes followed Him in greater numbers now 
than usual, because pilgrims were on their way to 
keep the Passover who were attracted by the fame 
of His wisdom and His works — His Doctrines and 
His Miracles. 

Towards evening the multitude became hungry, 
which Christ observed with tender anxiety. But 
there was nowhere to buy bread. The " desert " was 
uncultivated, barren, and uninhabited, and they were 
far from any help, and it was past sunset. There 
were among them all "five barley loaves and two 
small fishes," but what were they among so many? 

Unwilling to send the multitude away, and yet 
unsupplied with food for Himself and disciples, Christ 
works the miracle of feeding the five thousand. 

The next day, in the synagogue at Capernaum, 
and to much the same multitude, which still followed 
Him, with this miracle fresh in the minds of all, He 
made that startling announcement: "I am the Bread 
of Life" — "the living Bread which came down from 
heaven" — " not as your fathers did eat manna and 



132 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

are dead ; he that eateth of this Bread shall live for- 
ever." "I am the Bread of Life." "The Bread 
which I will give is My Flesh, which I will give for 
the life of the world." And not only His Flesh, but 
also His Blood. " Verily, verily I say unto you, Ex- 
cept ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink 
His Blood, ye have no life in you." 

The people not only " strove among themselves, 
saying, How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat? " 
but " from that time many of His disciples went back, 
and walked no more with Him." Flesh to eat! 
Blood to drink! These are not only hard sayings, 
but contrary to the whole Law of Moses ; and they 
forsook Christ. They thought only of carnal eating 
and drinking, and not of " feeding on Him in the 
heart by faith, with thanksgiving." It was like that 
other scene, in which Nicodemus wondered and ques- 
tioned : " How can a man be born again when he is 
old?" But as there in baptismal birth the Spirit 
worketh in man's heart as the wind, which bloweth 
where it listeth, and we hear the sound thereof, but 
cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth ; so 
here, " blessed and sanctified by His Word and Holy 
Spirit," the eating is a spiritual, sacramental eating, 
and the Food is spiritual, sacramental Food. The 
mystery in Christ's words looks forward — one year — 
to the time when He should make, on Calvary, "by 
His one oblation of Himself once offered, a full, per- 
fect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfac- 
tion, for the sins of the whole world;" and looks, 
also, to that "perpetual memory of His precious 
death and sacrifice, until His coming again," in the 
institution of which He took bread, saying, " This is 



TWEXTY-THIRD DAY OF LEXT. 133 

My Body," and took the cup, saying, "This is My 
Blood." 

At all times there have been some who asked, with 
startled countenance or in incredulous tones : "How 
can this Man give us His Flesh to eat? " forgetful of 
what manner of Man He was, or what manner of 
Flesh He gives. We may ourselves have sometimes 
doubted or questioned, even in the least degree, but 
doubted, nevertheless ; or, "have shrunk from the sa- 
cred Feast for unworthy reasons." That "Sacrament 
of piety, that sign of unity, that bond of charity,"* 
so designed by our Lord and Master, has often been 
a bone of contention. "How can He give us His 
Flesh to eat ? " How can He, indeed ? The Anglican 
branch of the Catholic Church has never undertaken 
to answer that question ; — and wisely, for our Lord 
Himself has left it unanswered. How, it matters 
not ; we need not know, and need not care. All that 
we do, and must, know is that Christ said of the 
one : "This is My Body," and of the other : " This is 
My Blood," and this we dare not doubt, and dare 
not question; nor dare we shrink from it and still 
hope to live the life that dieth not. How it is, is for 
God to know; that it is, is for us sufficient. The 
woman touched the hem of Christ's garment, and 
virtue flowed into her ; she knew not how, and did 
not stay to question ; but she believed, and touched, 
and was healed. Christ spake, and the Centurion's 
servant, who lay ill miles away, was healed in that 
self-same hour. He spake, and the blind saw, the 
deaf heard, the lame walked, and the dead arose. So 

* St. Augustine. 



134 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

He promised His Church that "the bread which we 
break is the Communion of the Body of Christ, and 
the cup of blessing which we bless is the Communion 
of the Blood of Christ ;" and "He is faithful that 
promised.' ' 

In the Book of Proverbs the Lord says unto us 
all: " Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine 
which I have mingled.'' It is "the Bread of Life," 
life-giving and life-sustaining; and "he that eateth 
this Bread shall live forever." "Come, eat." 

Yet, how shall w^e eat ? In like manner as we re- 
ceive and use all means of grace : by believing, and 
coming, and receiving. For, "he that cometh to Me 
shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall 
never thirst." By coming whenever the Heavenly 
Feast is spread ; by believing that it is Divine Food 
there offered ; by believing that God's Word is true ; — 
thus shall we eat. "He that believeth on Me hath 
everlasting life; " and, "he that eateth of this Bread 
shall live forever." 

It is not a mere tasting, nor a bare subsisting. It 
is being fully nourished with the broken Body and 
shed Blood, with "all the benefits of His passion." 
It is to be filled with grace and life — with eternal life 
— with Christ's own Life. It is the highest and best 
eating; the life which it gives and nourishes is the 
highest and best life. Spirit communes with spirit, 
and Life with life. The Spirit here, verily, takes of 
the things of Christ and shows them unto us. We 
take, and partake, and are refreshed and satisfied. 
We come to meet our Lord, at our Lord's own Feast, 
and there He comes to meet us. We hear His words : 
"Eat, friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, be- 



TWENTY-THIRD DAY OF LENT. 135 

loved.' ' We come, we eat, we drink. Beneath the 
covering of what is visible to mortal eyes, the soul 
feeds upon the Son of God. 

Yet, this is only a foretaste of a still better com- 
munion in the Church Triumphant. This is but the 
earnest of a still more glorious inheritance ; the first- 
fruits of a more blessed harvest. If this that w T e now 
taste of the Bread of Life is so blessed, what must 
that be which, with saints and angels, we shall feast 
upon when the shadow r s and figures have passed 
away, and we behold, face to Face, the glory of the 
Word made Flesh, as He was in the beginning, and 
as He abideth forever! 

But, alas ! for *the blindness and hardness of man's 
heart, how poor is oft-times our soul's appetite for 
this Heavenly Food ; how- little is our heart's desire 
for this Bread which angels eat; how little is our 
soul's craving for that Meat and Drink w-hich giveth 
life everlasting? When our bodies hunger, we at 
once eat, or w^e grow impatient and distressed ; if we 
lose one meal, w r e suffer ; if we lose more, we grow 
weak ; if we go a few days or a week without food, 
we get sick, and perhaps die. We make every effort 
to secure "the meat which perishes," but, "that Meat 
which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son 
of Man giveth unto us" for the soul's health and 
happiness, oft-times remains for along time untasted. 
The body must be fed ; but the soul can do without 
its nourishment. The hunger of the body must be 
satisfied ; but the craving of the soul goes unheeded. 
Yet, "man can not live by earthly bread alone ; " but 
only when we " eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and 



136 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

drink His Blood/ ' have we any life at all. And "he 
that eateth My Flesh/ ' said Christ, "and drinketh 
My Blood, dwelleth in Me and I in him," " and I will 
raise him up at the last day." 



TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF LENT. 

The Church. 

Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body. — Ephe- 
siansi. 22, 23. 

WE have seen how Christ endeavors to teach us 
how intimately and organically He is related 
to His people, by the different aspects in which He 
makes us see Him in His Person and His Office. He 
says He is our great High Priest, showing thereby 
His Sacrificial Office and Atoning Work; and "the 
Good Shepherd," by which He tells us of a Fold into 
which He gathers His people, and of the tender care 
He takes over them; and "the Water of Life" and 
"the Bread of Life," by which He teaches us that He 
is our life-giving Nourishment and Refreshment ; and 
" the True Vine " and we His branches, by which He 
shows us the living fellowship and communion He 
holds with us and we with Him, which also is shown 
in the figure of a building with all its parts fitly joined 
together growing unto a holy temple in the Lord, of 
which, He says, "I am the door" — and by the figure 
of a Body with its members growing in Him and de- 
riving their life and vitality from Him; He speaks of 
the Church as a "Kingdom" — He Himself as the 
King — i 4 the Kingdom of Heaven, ' ' and ' l the Kingdom 
of God; " nineteen of the thirty-two Parables teach- 
ing us facts and truths concerning it which can only 
apply to an earthly, visible, organized, ascertainable 



138 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

and self-perpetuating, life-giving and grace-bestowing 
Institution; an object of sight and knowledge as well 
as of faith. He thus sets the Church before us as a 
Fold, a Plant, a Building, a Body, a Kingdom, and 
Himself as our King, our Shepherd, our High Priest, 
our Head, our Life and Nourishment ; the two together, 
Christ and the Church, forming, in their most vital 
bond, a concrete organism, an objective, generic 
economy. 

The Church is a Divine Institution, not a voluntary 
"society;" with a Divine Commission and a human 
mission; coming from God and not from men; reach- 
ing out from above to gather men to God and to dis- 
pense to them' the means of grace and the blessings of 
salvation, and not reaching up from below for the 
attainment of Christianity ; ' ' the kingdom of heaven ' ' 
seeking men upon earth, and not a society on earth 
seeking the kingdom of heaven. "The kingdom of 
heaven is at hand/ ' in " the Church of the Living God, ' ' 
and in the Church the life of Jesus Christ, her Head, 
is extended into the life of His members ; and thus the 
Church, in her Corporate Life, is the extension of the 
Incarnation, an order of real objective existence of 
which He is the Head, of which the Holy Ghost is the 
Soul, in which the Apostolic Ministry are His "Ambas- 
sadors," and "stewards," who speak and act for Him 
and in His stead, and in w^hich by the administration 
of the Holy Ghost through this Ministry the Life of 
Christ is given to all true disciples of our Lord, and 
nourished and increased in them until they reach the 
perfection of saints. 

The Church is a Covenant, a continuation of the 
Old Covenant which God made with Abraham and 



TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF LEXT. 139 

crystallized in types and shadows, ceremonial and 
ritual, Fasts and Feasts, as well as of the promise 
God made to Eve in the Garden, of the Seed that 
should bruise the serpent's head. There has always 
been but " one Faith," as there has been but " one 
Lord, one God and Father of us all," made known in 
fuller and higher form, as man, by education in Divine 
things, was better prepared to receive higher revela- 
tions. There has been but one Covenant of God with 
man, and but one Church, though higher stages of its 
development, fuller revelations of its Divine truth; 
each stage and each revelation being, in man's apti- 
tude for spiritual things and in God's manifestation 
of spiritual things, an advance on the preceding, until 
Christ Jesus completed, in Himself and in His work, 
a full and finished revelation of redemption. Linking 
Eden with the Patriarchal, the Theocratic, the Judaic 
and the Christian ages, the Church is no new thing, 
except that it is the realization and fulfilment of a 
promise that is nearly as old as our race; the old in 
principle and design, new only in the means by 
which the design is accomplished ; the old trunk and 
branches, new only in fruit and foliage; the same 
Covenant as before, and as always, but a new Dis- 
pensation. Thus we are " fellow-citizens with the 
saints and of the household of God, and are built upon 
the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus 
Himself being the chief corner-stone, as He was the 
central figure and objective point of revelation in 
every stage. He gave the Law, and fulfilled the Law ; 
He made the prophesies and fulfilled them ; He or- 
dained the types and the whole ceremonial system, 
and thev shadowed forth His own Atonement. He 



140 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

destroyed nothing, changed nothing. He continued 
the same Priesthood, the same typical sacrifices, the 
same moral law, the same Passover, the same Pente- 
cost, though now all perfected by the addition of a 
new spiritual principle, even the very substance Him- 
self who "filleth all in all." 

The Church, thus, came from God, came to man; 
came with certain officers who are " stewards of the 
mysteries of God/ ' and " ambassadors for Christ as 
though God did beseech you by us," praying all men 
"in Christ's stead "that they might be " reconciled to 
God;" came with pardon for sin and redemption 
from sin, and with manifold grace to enable men to 
lead a godly and righteous life ever after; came as the 
dispenser of pardon and grace, as the spouse of her 
Lord and the Body of Christ, bearing in her bosom 
the virtue of His Atonement, the fulness of His salva- 
tion, the Life which makes us fellow-members with 
Him and "sons of God ; " came, therefore, as one visi- 
ble, concrete Organism, with a Ministry of Divine 
origin, and rites and Sacraments of Divine institu- 
tion, and a "form of sound words " that embodied 
"the Faith once delivered to the saints," by all of 
which she lays hold on men's minds and hearts, grafts 
them into Christ, endows them with His Life, nour- 
ishes that Life in us as her own, until we come to the 
eternal Kingdom. The Church, thus, is the Son of 
God articulated in Sacraments, explicated in symbols, 
organized* into a visible body politic; His organized 
living and personal presence, exercising His functions 
as Mediator and Saviour ; His earthly abode, as His 
natural body in Palestine formerly was ; His organ 
through which He speaks to and acts upon men. Filled 



TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF LENT. 141 

with Divine Life and Divine Power from Christ the 
Head and the Holy Ghost the Soul, this Body, the 
Church, is the living Christ Himself among us, admin- 
istering to us the manifold grace of salvation. 

Is any baptized, it is Christ Himself who, by the 
Holy Ghost, using His ambassador only as His in- 
strument, puts forth His arm and grafts and incor- 
porates that soul into His Body. Is any confirmed, 
it is Christ Himself who, by the Holy Ghost, using His 
Apostolic Minister whom we call Bishop as His 
instrument, stretches forth His Hand and strength- 
ens and blesses with the seven-fold gifts of the Divine 
Spirit. Is any ordained, it is Christ Himself who, by 
the Holy Ghost, using His Apostolic Ministers as His 
organs, sets apart for the performance of sacred 
functions the man whom He Himself has called to 
His Holy Office. In the Holy Sacrament of His Body 
and Blood it is Christ Himself wiio sanctions and 
verifies every word that is spoken and every act that 
is performed, and wiio fills the Sacrament with Vir- 
tue for the spiritual and eternal good of His people, 
and by the hand of " the steward of the mysteries of 
God " administers it to His people. Has the Church 
set forth a Creed, or spoken authoritatively on any 
matter, it is Christ Himself who, by the Holy Ghost, 
speaks to us the unalterable truth through this His 
Mystical Body and Spiritual Organ. The Church, 
as Christ's Body and Organ, mediates Absolution to 
the sinner, and builds him up in faith and fellowship 
till he comes to "the measure of the stature of the 
fulness of Christ. " The Church, as Christ's Body and 
Organ, is the one revealed way of salvation, bearing 
in her Bosom the grace and the blessings w T hich are 



142 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

able to "save to the uttermost," and dispensing 
them to all those who will come into this way. 

One word, now, about our relation to the Church. 
By baptism we and all Christian people were made 
members of this Mystical Body of Christ, and so we 
owe a duty to the Church as to Christ Himself. We 
owe her faith and obedience, devoted service and 
hearty support as to Christ Himself. Led by the 
spirit of Christ into all truth, the Church not only 
knows, but knows with certainty the Faith which is 
able to make us wise unto salvation; and not to hear 
and not to obey the Church, is therefore, not to hear 
and not to obey Christ Himself and the Holy Spirit. 
The sole object of going to church is not to hear ser- 
mons but to worship, and the highest form of wor- 
ship is that which He Himself has appointed, that is, 
His blessed Sacrament ; to stay at home is, therefore, to 
neglect or refuse to worship God, and to refuse to be- 
come a Communicant is to refuse to "remember" our 
Lord in the way He has commanded that we should. 

To labor for the Church or the Sunday School in 
any capacity whatever, is laboring for Christ; and to 
neglect or decline to do such work is neglecting or 
declining to do Christ's work. To break from the 
Corporate Life of the Historic Church and go into 
schism is not only to rend the Body of Christ, but to 
break away from Christ Himself and become Anti- 
Christ. "He has not God for his Father who has 
not the Church for his Mother," says one of the 
Apostolic Fathers, since schism, as well as a church- 
less and creed-less life, is the logical outcome of un- 
belief and disobedience which God abhors. 

You may have often heard well-meaning people 



TWEXTY-FOl'RTH DAY OF LEXT. 143 

say, as I have, that it does not matter to which 
Church we belong, or whether we belong to any 
Church so long as we do what is right. They say 
this in the innocency of their hearts, but it is an inno- 
cency that is appalling. Why is it that the Apostles con- 
stantly warn us to beware of " false apostles," men 
" teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," 
men "carried away with every wind of doctrine," 
and " false teachers bringing in damnable heresies ? " 
Why is it that we are warned against schism, and 
are taught to "keep the unity of the Body in the 
bond of peace; " and against heresy, and are told to 
"hold fast the form of sound words" and remain 
" steadfast in the faith once delivered to the saints ;" 
and are warned against " anti-Christs " who have 
"departed from the faith ? " Simply because Christ 
founded a Church and promised to be with that 
Church till the end of the world, against which the 
gates of hell should never prevail; and because this 
Church is what I have said she is — by lawful minis- 
ters and valid Sacraments, mediating God's grace 
and benediction. Does it not matter, then, whether 
Ave belong to this historic Church or to some human 
society — whether we belong to the Divine Body or to 
some man-made organization? Will God accept as 
equivalent our membership in one of the manyhuman 
organizations? Does it not matter to Him who has 
Commissioned Apostles to break "the Bread of Life" 
till the end of the world, whether we receive it from 
such or not? Does it not matter to Him who said 
"Except a man be born again of water and the Spirit, 
he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven," whether 
we are baptized or not ? Does it not matter to Him 



144 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

who said " Except ye eat My Flesh and drink My 
Blood, ye have no life in you/" whether we come to 
the Holy Supper or not ? Does it not matter to Him 
or to us, what Church we belong to, or when and by 
whom founded, or what it teaches ? It were a matter 
most strange if it made no difference — if God did not 
care. But the Scriptures and the early Christian 
writings show that it did matter very much in the 
early ages, and that necessarily it does matter, and 
matter very seriously, still. 

My brethren, we have been brought by "one 
Baptism" into the "one Body" and are partakers 
of the " one Spirit." Let us thank God for the privi- 
lege, and endeavor to hold the " one Faith " as it has 
been attested and proved out of Scripture by God's 
Church from the beginning. 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY OF LENT. 

Holy Baptism. 

As many of you as have been Baptised into Christ have put 
on Christ. — Galatians iii. 27. 

WE do not wish to look at the Mode of Baptism 
in this lecture, especially as the manner of its 
administration is most trivial while the matter (the 
Formula and the Water) is the only and the all im- 
portant consideration. 

Nor do we wish to consider the subject of Baptism, 
as all well informed persons know that the proof is 
abundant and positive, from the writings of the 
Apostolic Fathers and the Decrees of Ancient Coun- 
cils, that Infant Baptism has been the practice of the 
Universal Church from the beginning. 

The Effects of Baptism are what we wish now to 
consider; neither How, nor Who, but Why we are, 
and must be, baptized, and what Baptism does in us 
and for us. 

The Catechism, following the teaching of the 
Universal Church, says there are two Sacraments 
" generally necessary to salvation; that is to say, 
Baptism and the Supper of the Lord." At the time 
the Catechism was drawn up the word "generally "' 
was used in the sense of " universally." The Church 
then, resting on Holy Scripture, teaches that there 

are two Sacraments " universally necessarv to salva- 

10 



146 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

tion." According to the Church's teaching, based on 
Christ's Word, Baptism is both a necessary Ordinance 
and a saving- Ordinance; as Christ says, " Except 
any one," old or }^oung, adult or infant, "except any 
one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter 
into the Kingdom of God." 

Whether "the Kingdom of God" here means the 
Church or Paradise is all one ; for Baptism is the 
Door of Entrance to the one as to the other. By 
Baptism we are "made a member of Christ, the 
child of God, and an inheritor (heir) of the Kingdom 
of Heaven." 

In Baptism a character is given us, an ineffaceable 
mark made on the soul by God, which distinguishes 
us not only from the "children of wrath" but from 
our former selves ; so that once baptized we cannot 
be unbaptized and cannot be rebaptized, the charac- 
ter cannot be effaced and cannot be repeated. 

This character consists in three Gifts: New-Birth 
or Regeneration, Remission of Sins, and Endowment 
with all the Spiritual Helps to Grace. 

Baptism is the Sacrament of Regeneration — "the 
washing (or laver) of regeneration and renewing of 
the Holy Ghost." As by our natural birth we are 
brought into the natural world and into the family 
of "the first Adam," so we are by our regeneration 
brought into the spiritual world and into the family 
of "the Second Adam." As we derive our natural 
being and life from the first Adam, so we derive our 
supernatural being and life from the Second Adam. 
The old man is buried and the new man is raised up 
in us. This is done in Baptism, which is a new-birth 
into a new state, a translation from the kingdom of 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY OF LENT. 147 

evil to the kingdom of grace, from the world to the 
Church or Kingdom of God. Every Divine grace and 
every blessing of the Gospel is promised only "in 
Christ ;" and by Baptism we "put on Christ," are 
grafted into Him, annexed to Him, incorporated into 
Him, clothed upon by Him. By Baptism, " Christ is 
formed within us," and is born within us as really as 
He was born of the Virgin Mary. Baptism is 
Christ's Sacrament of Self-Incarnation. By its 
power and operation we become "partakers of the 
Divine Nature," that is, the Incarnation of Christ is 
extended to each one of us individually, as it is to 
the Church generically, through there-creation of our 
whole nature in Him and the infusion of His Divine 
Life into us. "By one Spirit we are all baptized 
into one Body" — "baptized into Christ," into 
the Church which is the Body of Christ — the Corpo- 
rate Life of Christ on earth. So that it is due 
to our Baptism alone that we can say, "Christ 
liveth in me." By Baptism we are, as members of 
Christ and participators in His very Self, adopted 
into God's family (which is again the Church), 
reconciled to Him, brought into grace and favor 
with Him. He becomes our Father and Ave become 
His children in a new and higher sense than before, 
our Father through Christ our Elder Brother, and 
through the Church (His Body) our Spiritual Mother. 
By the spirit of adoption," given us in Baptism we 
call God "Our Father." And thus, mystically one 
with Christ, and of "the household of faith" or the 
family of God, we are "heirs of the kingdom of 
heaven" — of that part which is here on earth with 
all its grace and blessing, its absolution and benedic- 



148 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

tion, and of that which is hid from human eyes in 
the Paradise above. 

Union with Christ by Baptismal regeneration — the 
only way by which we are made one with Him — 
brings us two gifts. One of these is Remission of Sins. 
We " receive remission of sins by spiritual regenera- 
tion/ ' says the Prayer Book. In the Creed we pro- 
fess " one Baptism for the remission of sins ; " so that 
Baptism is there declared to be the Sacrament of 
Absolution. In the New Testament it is every where 
spoken of as such. St. Peter, preaching to the 
assembled people on the Day of Pentecost, said: 
" Repent, and be baptized every one of you for the 
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Ghost." Ananias said to the converted Paul 
at Damascus, after his eyes were opened : "Arise and 
be baptized, and wash away thy sins." Our Lord 
God, speaking hj the mouth of His prophet Ezekiel, 
said: "I will pour upon you clean water, and ye 
shall be cleansed from all your filthiness." The 
Apostle Paul likewise said to the Corinthians, "ye 
are w^ashed,ye are sanctified." All sins are " washed 
away," "remitted," forgiven — those previous to 
Baptism by the baptismal act itself, and those since 
Baptism by the eternal character of that act, or by 
the union w T ith Christ into which we have been 
brought, and the atmosphere of forgiveness in 
which we live and move "in Christ." So that, 
though worthily deserving to be punished for our 
sins, we are at all times within the reach of forgive- 
ness, and are readily forgiven if penitent and believing. 

The second gift or consequence of our Baptismal 
Regeneration in Christ is the endowment with all 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY OF LENT. 149 

Spiritual Helps to Grace that are in the Church. 
This comes with the eternal character of our union 
with Christ. Being, in her Corporate Life, the Body of 
Christ, and being made members of that Body by 
Baptismal Regeneration or ingrafting, we have not 
only every grace given us by which the new life 
within us is developed and sustained, but we are 
taken up into such close, living union with Christ, 
that we are one with Him as He is one with the 
Father ; and this is fulness of grace and blessing to 
them that by faith and obedience will profit thereby. 
"Because we are sons, God sends forth the spirit of 
His Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father." By 
Baptism we became sons, and this sonship endowed 
us with the Holy Spirit, as with every gift and bless- 
ing the Father can bestow upon sons. We may de- 
stroy the new life of the soul, as we may " quench the 
spirit" or deny the Faith; but we are members of 
Christ and "sons of God" still — dead members and 
prodigal sons ; and we are part of that spiritual 
Family still, and have a claim to all that is conveyed 
to man from God by whatsoever channel it is 
brought. God gives Himself really and fully through 
Baptismal birth, but He may not be received wholly 
by any, and may not be received at all by many, as 
they may or may not appropriate the gifts by faith. 
Yet He is there and is given ; it is a Divine act com- 
plete in itself, which we make real to us by a perfect 
faith, a perfect obedience, and a perfect life. So that 
if we are faithful in our discipleship all the means of 
grace in the Church will, by regular use, build us up 
a spiritual house in the Lord until we come to the 
perfection of saints in the Triumphant Kingdom. 



150 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

This is precisely what was wrought by Circum- 
cision in the Old Dispensation, which has given way 
to Baptism in the New. On account of this identity 
of purpose St. Paul calls Baptism " circumcision made 
without hands," spiritual circumcision, that is, cir- 
cumcision by " water and the Spirit." As that was 
God's covenanting act to man, by which He became 
their God and they became His people, so is this. 
As by that the child was taken into the Theocratic 
Kingdom, so in this he is planted into the soil of the 
Church. As in that he was heir of all covenanted 
blessings, civil and ecclesiastical, temporal and 
eternal, so in this the blessings of Christ's Incarna- 
tion, Redemption, Resurrection and Ascension are 
made his own, and are ever with him, even when his 
faith is weakest or his life unworthy, as a firm and 
sure foundation upon which he may confidently fall 
back for pardon and peace. In the darkest hours, in 
the strongest temptations, in the fiercest assaults of 
Satan, God's unfailing mercy vouchsafed in Baptism, 
His Covenant Vows, Christ's abiding presence, the 
indwelling Holy Spirit, are as strong and " everlast- 
ing arms" beneath and around us, if our faith will 
but look up and behold. " Heaven and earth shall 
pass away," but God's promises, Christ's word, con- 
firmed to us by an everlasting oath and sealed to us 
in Baptism, shall never fail ; and shall be as an anchor 
of the soul both sure and steadfast, all through life, 
and in death, and be} r ond, leading us from grace to 
grace here, and there from glory to glory. 



TWENTY-SIXTH DAY OF LENT. 

Examination axd Eatixg. 

Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that Bread 
and drink of that Cup. — I. Corinthians xi, 28. 

FALSE doctrines, improper, ceremonies, and strife 
had crept into the Corinthian Church in connec- 
tion with the Holy Eucharist. So far did they carry 
their division and contention, that St. Paul was 
obliged to administer his Apostolic rebuke and say, 
"Now this I command you." 

It is painful to think — painful to every true Christ- 
ian as it must have been painful to Christ Himself— 
this sharp controversy was about the Sacrament of 
Unity and Love. The Apostle therefore teaches them 
its character and its meaning, its Divine Institution 
and its blessed fruits; how to prepare for it, and how 
to partake of it. Among other things he commands 
self-examination as a sweet preparation for receiving 
the Holy Supper , lest "eating and drinking unworthily, 
we eat and drink damnation to ourselves, not discern- 
ing the Lord's Body." There must then be a high 
and awful Mystery in the Sacrament; and if so> 
what is it ? 

Instituted by our Lord, and filled with the fulness 
of His grace — the quickening virtue of His own Life — 
it is the Lord's Supper. It is no common meal, as, 
after Consecration, it is no common bread or ordin- 
arv wine. Bv Consecration the Elements become 



152 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

Sacred. They become the Lord's Vehicles by which 
He imparts to us the living virtue of His Body and 
Blood. 

In one sense the Sacrament is a Memorial of our 
Lord's Death, as His Apostle says, "ye do show 
forth the Lord's Death till He come." Breaking the 
Bread, we call to mind the broken Body of Christ; 
pouring the wine, we call to mind the shed Blood of 
Christ. It is a Memorial of that Sacrifice of Christ 
w r hich was made necessary by our sins, yet which 
secures for us remission of sins and life everlasting. 

But it is more than a Memorial. It is a Feast; 
a Feast, not on bread and wine but on the Body and 
Blood of Christ. In the Sacrament Christ gives 
Himself to His people as the true bread from heaven, 
possessing the seal of everlasting life. The body 
takes the natural elements of bread and wine ; but 
the soul, in mysterious communion withitsLord and 
Saviour, feeds upon Christ's Body and Blood. Christ 
dwells in the soul, and the soul in Christ. " My Flesh 
is Meat indeed, and My Blood is Drink indeed. He 
that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood, dwell- 
eth in Me and I in him." That Holy Supper is there- 
fore no empty form or ceremony, no symbol of an 
absent Saviour; but is mysteriously filled with living 
substance, that substance being the Body and Blood 
of the very Christ Himself. 

It is, therefore, the Sacrament of Union and Com- 
munion with Christ. By mystery divine He is the 
Vine, and we are branches of Him ; He is the Head, 
and we are His members; He is the living Temple, 
and we are living stones built up into a spiritual 
house in Him. There is perfect union and commun- 



TWENTY-SIXTH DAY OF LENT. 153 

ion between the vine and its branches, and a head 
and its members, or a building and its parts; so 
there is also between Christ and His people, who are 
" flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone." We feast 
on the hidden manna, and He shows us the secrets of 
His Heart's Love, and the mysteries of His Kingdom. 
In it He reveals Himself to us as He does not unto 
the w-orld; and having our eyes opened as were those 
at Emmaus, we see Him in the breaking of His 
Bread, we feed upon Him, and live. 

Thus it is to our entire being the Sacrament of 
nourishment and refreshment. In Holy Baptism 
the evil that we have by nature is w^ashed away ; in 
the Holy Feast the good that we have not by nature 
is given us. Mysteriously do w r e eat of the Bread of. 
Life and are filled. Mysteriously do we drink of the 
hidden Fountain of grace and are refreshed. We 
receive newness of life, and our "life is hid w 7 ith 
Christ in God." We receive fulness of blessings in 
"the Cup of blessing which we bless." We receive 
life — Divine Life — ever more and more abundantly as 
we come more and more to His Feast; life that dieth 
not, life that knows no ending, life that even now 
partakes of immortality because it is "risen in the 
likeness of Christ's resurrection," and is "hid with 
Christ in God." In ourselves w^e are dead, yea, we 
die daily; but, behold ! in Christ w T e live, we live ever- 
more; for, "he that hath the Son hath life." The 
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is the Vehicle of Life, 
the Son's own Life. Here we see Him face to Face. 
Here w x e touch and handle things unseen, and grasp 
with firmer hand eternal grace. And this is bliss, 
yea, this the Gate of Heaven. 



154 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

" Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of 
that Bread, and drink of that Cup." No wonder 
the Apostles left this warning and this command. 
Holy Mystery ! it is to tis either a savor of life unto 
life or a savor of death unto death. But with what 
thoroughness and by what standard shall we exam- 
ine ourselves ? For it is possible that we may search 
too severely, and condemn ourselves when mercy 
tempereth justice ; or too slightly, and so dishonor 
the Feast by lacking the wedding-garment. By what 
standard, then, shall we examine ourselves ? 

The Church, like a tender and loving Mother, puts 
her invitation to the Holy Sacrament in most com- 
forting words: "Ye who do truly and earnestly re- 
pent you of your sins, and are in love and charity 
with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, 
following the commandments of God, and walking 
from henceforth in His holy ways, draw near with 
faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort, 
and make your humble confession to Almighty God." 
Repentance, confession, faith, love and charity to- 
wards our neighbors, obedience to God's Law, — these 
cover all that is necessary to partake worthily of our 
Lord's Blessed Sacrament. Simple, indeed, is the 
requirement, for the true Christian is always in that 
frame of mind which is acceptable to God, and which 
realizes the Gospel as a living fact, and so is penitent, 
believing, loving and obedient. And to him the Sac- 
rament is not only a blessing full of grace and nour- 
ishment, but it works that transformation of body 
and soul by which he is more and more translated 
from the earthly into the heavenly, and from earth to 
heaven. 



TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY OF LENT. 
Ix Remembrance of Me. 
Do this, in remembrance of Me. — I. Corinthians xi. 24. 

AS the end of Christ's Ministry drew near, He 
realized more fully the separation that would 
follow between Himself and His disciples. He should 
be parted from those He had gathered around Him, 
He to return to His Throne, and they to go out into 
an unbelieving and persecuting world, and suffer 
stripes and imprisonments and death for His sake. 
That little company of disciples, so attached to their 
Master, so linked to one another by many hallowed 
ties, should now be broken, and scattered into all 
parts of the earth. Those pleasant and secluded 
spots, made so memorable and sacred by Christ's 
astonishing miracles, wonderful discourses, and fer- 
vent prayers, should be given up, left behind, and 
thought of only as haunts of the past. Torn from 
Christ, they should be left, apparently, without a 
leader, without a teacher, and without a defender 
and friend. They should be exposed to the merciless 
attacks of Scribes, and Pharisees, and doctors, 
priests, and Levites, and people. The whip-cords, 
the dungeon, and the cross, with all that indescrib- 
able suffering which these objects meant, should 
darken the lives of this faithful band. All these 
things, and much more, occurred to Christ as He 



156 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

thought of the near approach of His betrayal and 
Death. Sad was His countenance, sorrowful His Soul. 

But Christ gave them promises, and what were 
they? "When the Comforter is come, whom I will 
send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of 
Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall 
testify of Me, and shall teach you all things, and 
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I 
have said unto you." But more than this. He 
promised to be with them Himself. Giving them the 
Great Commission to preach the Gospel and disciple 
all nations, He said : " Lo I am with you alway even 
unto the end of the w-orld." Yet more than this still 
has He promised. He Himself will not only be with 
them but in them ; in them both by the indwelling of 
Himself and His Holy Spirit, and by a Mystical 
Presence for which He was then about to provide. 
He Instituted the Sacrament of His Body and Blood 
that it might be fulfilled as He said : ' ' He that eateth 
My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, dwelleth in Me, 
and I in him." Such promises as these amended for 
the loss they should sustain in His personal separa- 
tion. Really and truly in them, meant closer fellow- 
ship with Him than they ever held before. They 
would gladly suffer persecutions, if He should be in 
them and they in Him. What were all the pleasures 
and joys of life, compared with so great joy in such 
blessed inter-communion as that ! With them and in 
them ; what better thing could they want, or what 
more could He promise ! 

Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, 
took bread and the cup, blessed each, gave to the 
Apostles, with the request to partake of them, and 



TWEXTY-SEYEXTH DAY OF LEXT. 157 

to do this, in future, in remembrance of Him; for 
this should be the sign and the seal of that blessed 
fellowship and indwelling. 

The Holy Communion is the Sacrament of Re- 
membrance. It is a memorial of His Death, "for as 
often as we eat this Bread, and drink this Cup, we 
do show the Lord's Death till He come." But a 
memorial not of His Death only, but of His Life. In 
it His whole Being, His whole Self, with all that He 
did and taught, every feature of His Alission that 
enters into the Atonement, is presented before our 
eyes and to our faith. 

Beholding with our eyes the natural elements of 
bread and wine, we behold by faith and spiritual 
sight the Body and Blood of our Lord Christ. Re- 
ceiving with the mouth the natural elements of bread 
and wine, we receive by faith and sacramental eat- 
ing the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Saviour. 
How we do, we cannot tell ; that it is a fact, we know 
and believe. But not any single act or fact, isolated 
from the rest of Christ's Life, is brought to remem- 
brance. Death was but the culmination of His Mis- 
sion, but the issue of His Redeeming Work, since 
4 k without shedding of blood there is no remission." 
The entire Life of Christ in all its phases and features 
was Messianic and Mediatorial; and every distinct 
part, no less than His Death, is brought to remem- 
brance. We remember His humiliation and Incarna- 
tion, His Circumcision and Infancy — nursed, watched, 
carried about on His mother's arms, and borne into 
Egypt: J as sitting in the Temple, at the age of twelve, 
being Confirmed by the Doctors in His Covenant 
rights and eating His first Paschal Supper; we re- 



158 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 



member His Baptism, Fasting, and Temptation; His 
walks up and down Palestine as the Servant of man, 
not ashamed to eat bread with publicans and sin- 
ners, not ashamed to mingle with the poor, the lowly, 
the contrite, and the outcast, going about doing 
good with His love unceasingly active in behalf 
of all, not being ministered unto but ministering 
with an unsparing Hand and an unfailing devo- 
tion. 

We remember Him on that awful night of sorrow 
with the Apostles in the upper chamber, they watching 
His every movement, listening to every word, divin- 
ing His very thoughts, and He Instituting the Sacra- 
ment of His Body and Blood. We remember His 
agony and Blood Sweat, the Deliverer Himself on 
bended knees in lonely Gethsemane, a suppliant be- 
fore the Father, and Himself crying for deliverance. 
We remember Him a prisoner, led by armed soldiers, 
surrounded by an angry mob, — then a condemned 
criminal led forth for execution. We remember His 
Cross and Passion, exposed to the gaze of all His 
revilers, His life-blood escaping from Him drop by 
drop for their eternal salvation. We remember His 
Death and Burial, Resurrection and Ascension, on 
earth the first-fruits of the dead, and in heaven the 
first-fruits of Redemption. We remember Him as 
our only Intercessor and Advocate before the Father, 
pleading His Perpetual Sacrifice for us and for our 
salvation. 

But we dare not stop here. As a Memorial, the 
Sacrament not only pictures to us the whole of 
Christ's Life and Work, but puts us in mind why He 
lived and why He Died. He lived, and suffered, and 



TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY OF LENT. 159 

died, and rose not for Himself alone ; not because it 
pleased Him to do so ; not for an exhibition of power ; 
not to arouse wonder and astonishment. But for 
your sins and mine, for your salvation and mine, for 
you, and me, He became Incarnate, and labored, and 
was Crucified, gaining by His Sacrifice eternal victory 
over sin, Satan, and death, and atoning for our sins 
before a merciful Father. 

"In remembrance of Me." 0, how inclined we 
are to forget Him ! In the busy stir of our lives we 
think much of what we are doing for ourselves, and 
little of the work Christ has done for us. We need 
this Sacramental remembrance, not alone for our 
spiritual nourishment and growth in grace, but for 
our faith that we may make His Passion more real 
to us ; we need it for our hope, that we may be as- 
sured that by it are life and immortality more and . 
more brought to light ; we need it for our love, that 
love may abound yet more and more for Him who 
loved us even unto death; we need it for our peni- 
tence, that by the great suffering which our sins have 
caused Him we may see the greatness of our sins ; 
we need it for our tenderness, that by the sorrows 
and sufferings which it brings to remembrance our 
hard hearts may be softened and melt away in tears ; 
we need it for our thankfulness, that we may see and 
know and feel the price which our blessings have cost 
Him, and the blessings which that price has pur- 
chased. 

"According to Thy gracious word, 

In deep humility, 
This will I do, my gracious Lord, 

I will remember Thee. 



160 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

"Remember Thee, and all Thy pains, 

And all Thy love to me ; 
Yes, while a breath, a pulse remains, 

Will I remember Thee." 

But it is no mental but a Sacramental remem- 
brance. We are to do it oft, and as oft as we do it 
remember Him. 0, the glorious Gift which the Sacra- 
ment conveys, and the precious consolation that it 
brings and leaves with us for our heart's health and 
our soul's peace ! 



TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF LENT. 

Ix the Upper Chamber. 
It is the Sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. — Exodus xff. 27".. 

IT was Thursday in Holy Week. Christ and His 
disciples left the home of Martha and Mary, in 
Bethany, towards evening, and, by the path so fami- 
liar to them over the Mount of Olives, came to the 
Holy City to keep the Passover. In the morning He 
had sent two of His disciples in advance to prepare 
"the Upper Chamber" in what is supposed to have 
been St. Mark's house. 

It was their last walk from Bethany to the City 
until after His Death ; and they walked it in stillness 
and mysterious dread, foreboding a coming storm. 
They come to the house, enter it, and sit down at 
the table to partake of what they did not then realize 
— their last Paschal Supper; not, however, without 
some strife and contention — perhaps as to who 
should have the chief seats — so that He, who had 
come from God and should go to God, in the bitter- 
ness of a sorrow which human heart never felt before 
nor since, had to teach them the lesson of humility 
and administer a tender rebuke by washing the dis- 
ciples' feet. But most fitting was it for the Master 
to wash His disciples, for, as He stooped and washed 
their feet, so He should stoop to the lowest depth of 

humiliation and wash His people from their sins. 

11 



162 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

This act revealed to the disciples the mystery of the 
Incarnation. 

Look at the meaning of the Passover, whose feast 
they had come to celebrate. Instituted on the night 
of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, when 
the first-born of the land was slain, it was ordained 
to be observed ever after as a perpetual commemora- 
tion of that event. The offering was to be a lamb 
"without spot or blemish or any such thing. " The 
victim was to be slain as an offering for sin, and its 
blood sprinkled on the door-posts as a sign to the 
Avenging Angel, who should then pass over the 
house thus protected. The sacrifice was also to be 
eaten, for it was to be incorporated, in the most inti- 
mate, living way, with the life of the worshipper. It 
was to be eaten with unleavened bread — the "bread 
of affliction" — to remind them of their Egyptian ser- 
vitude. It, however, besides looking back to that 
deliverance from bondage, looked forward, also, to a 
spiritual deliverance; and each celebration of the 
Passover involved a prophetic reference to the com- 
ing of that Great Salvation. It was a grand type of 
an Offering for sin that w^as to be made "when the 
fulness of time was come." It was the shadow of a 
Substance that was to be given in the future. They 
ate of it in faith that they were then partakers of a 
communion with God, which He would, in His own 
good time, bring to perfect realization. They sacri- 
ficed in faith that it would, in God's mysterious way , 
atone for their sins, and give them His covenanted 
grace. But it was still a type and a shadow only of 
good things to come. The fulfilment should be made 
in the Offering of the true Lamb of God — the Messiah. 



TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF LENT. 163 

Here, at the table in this Upper Chamber, oh, 
Wonder of all wonders ! was the Lamb Himself, cele- 
brating the Passover which was a type of His own 
sacrifice, eating the spotless lamb which was a type 
of His sinless Self. He whom the Paschal Lamb pre- 
figured and anticipated, was here, the fulness of time 
having come ; and He was commemorating the pro- 
phetic representation of His own Death. But only 
so as to bring to an end the Old Testament Dispen- 
sation, which crystalized itself around the Passover; 
to fulfil and abolish its types and shadows ; and to 
institute, instead, a new, better, and higher Sacra- 
ment — the Memorial of His broken Body and spilled 
Blood. As with a sacrament He began His ministry, 
so with a second sacrament He ended it. "For in 
the night in which ' Christ our Passover ' was be- 
trayed, He took bread, and when He had given 
thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat, this is My 
Body, which is broken for you: this do in remem- 
brance of Me. After the same manner also He took 
the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the 
new testament in My Blood : this do ye, as oft as ye 
drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as oft as ye eat 
this bread, and drink this cup, ye do showthe Lord's 
Death till He come." 

Here, at the table in this Upper Chamber, was the 
true " Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the 
world," Priest and Victim, superceding one feast by 
another of far deeper and diviner significance, as it 
was of diviner Food. Here He was, at once the 
Host and the Food, the Pascha and the Dispenser 
of it, the Sla3 r er and the Slain, offering up Himself, 
in the Feast of the Old Dispensation and in the Sac- 



164 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

rament of the New, a Sacrifice for the sins of His peo- 
ple. " Without shedding of Blood there is no remis- 
sion. " Here, then, oh mystery of all mysteries! — in 
the Blood of the Paschal Lamb He was already 
offering His own Blood ; in the wine of the New Sac- 
rament He was already spilling that precious Life 
which ended its suffering on the Cross. The elements 
in His Hand — emblems of His broken Body and shed 
Blood — were already, in effect, a "showing forth of 
the Lord's Death, " and pictured to His sorrowing 
Soul the agony and bloody sweat, the scourge and 
the thorns, the nails and the spear, in His sacred 
Head, and Hands, and Feet, and Side. What must 
His thoughts, His emotions, yea, His sufferings, have 
been, as He ate the lamb, and as He broke the bread 
and poured the wine, knowing that they represented 
His Cross and Passion ! 

As the Paschal Lamb had to be eaten to be of any 
avail to the worshipper, thereby bringing himself 
and his offering into living union and communion; 
so we must eat this bread and drink this cup if we 
would have life in us. " Except ye eat the Flesh of 
the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have no 
life in you." It is only when we receive these into 
our soul that the Sacrament finds its completion, 
and the blessing of the Sacrament — "eternal life" — 
is given. 

When we do come to eat this spiritual Food, how 
do we come into His holy Presence ? How do we be- 
hold those earnest looks of inquiring Love? How 
do we see the melting tenderness of His Countenance ? 
How do we look into those Eyes of His, beaming 
with unfathomable love, and hear those words of 



TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF LENT. 165 

consolation such as never man spake ? The scene in 
the Upper Chamber was "the Lord's Passover," and 
the Lord Himself was keeping it; and yet, alas! the 
hand of treachery was even there with Him on the 
table. Is it ever so now ? The false heart of one of 
His disciples w r as eating "the sop" from His own 
Hand, and yet, alas ! filled with the basest ingrati- 
tude, and leprous with the foulest sin. Is it ever so 
now ? What are our feelings and conduct when w^e 
"keep the Feast? " What they would have been had 
we been in that Upper Chamber on that wonderful 
night, such they should be now. Canwe sa}^, "Lord, 
it is good for us to be here? " or, if Christ spoke to 
us, w^ould He say to us, " Thou gavest Ale no kiss ? " 
Can w r e say, as the Mystic Bride spoke to the heav- 
enly Bridegroom, "I sat down under His shadow 
with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my 
taste. He brought me to the banqueting-house, and 
His banner over me was love ? " Oh, these cold, dull, 
faithless, unloving, ungrateful hearts! These deaf 
ears ! These blind eyes ! We come to meet our Lord 
at "the Lord's Passover," and He comes to meet us ; 
but we have no realization of His Presence, and no 
depth of love in our hearts. "We are prone, in the 
noise and busy stir of the present, to forget the Obla- 
tion of our Lord on the Cross in the far-away past. 
Amid our daily doings we are prone to forget what 
He has done. In our many blessings w^e forget how 
the curse rested upon Him. In our many happy 
hours, w^e forget His sorrows. Sitting refreshed in 
the shadow, we forget the Tree of Life that shades 
us. Warmed b}^ His Love, we think not of the Sun 
of Righteousness from w^hence those beams come. 



166 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

Drinking at the stream, we forget the Fountain 
whence all refreshing waters flow."* Eating " the 
Bread of Life," we are ungratefully forgetful of Him 
who feeds us, and of Him who is the Food. 

"It is the Sacrifice of the Lord's Passover," and 
the Lord Himself is here, and the Lord Himself is 
offered. What does this mean to us ? Is it food and 
nourishment to us ; or is it empty of any blessing ? 
Is it the seal and pledge of His Presence and the 
promise of the bright day of His second advent ; or 
is it a meaningless ceremony? "Whoso would live, 
hath where to live, hath whereof to live; let him 
come, let him believe, let him be incorporated, that 
he may be quickened."! 

* Henry Harbough. 
f St. Augustine. 



TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF LENT. 

Gethsemaxe. 

And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane ; and 
He saith to His disciples, sit ye here, while I shall pray. — St. Mark 
xiv. 32. 

THEY have kept the Feast of the Passover in " the 
Upper Chamber ' ' — the Saviour and ' ' the twelve. ' ' 
Many significant words were spoken, and many won- 
derful things were done there ; but these ha d to come 
to an end. ' ' When they had sung a hymn ' ' they went 
forth into the silent night, and to the Mount of 
Olives — the Saviour and now " the eleven." One had 
gone to another part of the city and upon another 
mission. 

'Twas the last watch of the night, yet from houses 
here and there they could still see light shining. The 
Passover Moon was at its full, and the Orient's brow 
was set with the Morning Star. A deep silence sub- 
dued them as they passed along the narrow, winding 
streets, and out of the Eastern or St. Stephen's Gate, 
near the walls of the Temple, down the steep slope of 
the ravine and across the Kidron which was pushing 
its black and angry waters along a hundred feet be- 
low ; and up the green slope beyond— the eleven, with 
mysterious dread and awe, behind, the Saviour, with 
bowed head and sorrowing heart, in front. With 
dull footsteps they pass in and out of the shadows. 



168 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

Perhaps at the Kidron the solemn hush of the silence 
is first broken, by that last warning of all, of the Old 
Testament prophecy that this night the Shepherd 
should be smitten and the sheep scattered. Staggered 
by this prediction He turns to St. Peter with the indi- 
vidual prediction that Satan would that night sift 
him as wheat is sifted, but that He had prayed the 
Father that his faith fail not. Protestations and 
tows are multiplied in answer to these predictions. 
The}^ will never forsake Him. St. Peter, though he 
should die with Him, yet he would not deny Him. 
Ah ! little did they know of the mighty wonders of 
that night — of the terrible things that night should 
bring forth. 

They now come to the entrance to Gethsemane, 
and they enter. They know the place well. Often 
had they come into its enclosure and sat beneath its 
shady grove of olives, in the cool breeze which came 
from the mountain above. Inside the gate, or per- 
haps in the keeper's house or in the oil-press, He leaves 
eight of the eleven — the three more favored ones, who 
had also been with Him on the Mount of Transfigura- 
tion, who stood nearest to Him and loved Him best, 
He takes with Him farther in. Even these He soon 
leaves while He goes forward a little, falls down on 
His face yonder, and prays that this cup, if it were 
possible, might be taken from Him. He has entered 
"into the Valley of the Shadow of Death.' ' In the 
dark shadows of the trees, the u powers of darkness" 
are making a fierce onslaught upon His Soul. The 
violent winds of hell are sweeping over His prostrate 
form. He groans in the spirit. He wrestles in prayer. 
A cold flood of anguish — of terrible agony — breaks 



TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF LENT. 169 

over Him. He is " amazed " as He looks into the hor- 
rors which treachery was even then preparing for 
Him. He is "sorrowful even unto death." Hear 
that cry of awful grief and suffering that comes from 
His Soul again and again, as Satan's anger lashes 
itself into fury against His shrinking Body : " Father, 
if it be possible" — if it be possible, Oh, Father — "let 
this ctip " — this awful cup of most horrible sorrows — 
"pass from Me." That cup was the fear, the dread 
of death — death accompanied by overwhelmingly 
brutal shame. But surely not that alone. There was 
mingled in the dregs of that cup whose bitterness so 
shook His Soul to its very centre, all the burden of the 
sins of the whole race of mankind, in its apostasy and 
fall, in all their most wonderful and mighty accumu- 
lation. This — the sense of sin and of death as "the 
wages of sin," was it that filled the cup to its brim, 
and which He drank to the bottom. 

To fallen man, who has the taste of death 
always in his soul, death is not so terrible; but 
to the Christ, the Unfallen Man, the cup of bit- 
terness which He emptied, not for Himself, but 
for sinful, jg^uilty, brutal humanity, was filled with 
deepest humiliation and utmost divine wrath, as 
well as bodily torture and mental anguish. The shaft 
of death was buried deep into His heart, for man's 
sake and by man's own hand; and that shaft was 
poisoned by the world's sin. We cannot tell, as He, the 
depth of that sorrow. We cannot know, as He, 
the depth of that suffering. We cannot taste, as 
He, the bitterness of that hour. Now- kneeling, now 
prostrate; fallen under the weight of man's guilt, 
" offering up prayers and supplications, with strong 



170 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him 
from death," the Soul of our Saviour was in its last 
and fatal agony. He who had often before put de- 
mons to flight, was now prostrate on the ground in 
tears. He whose voice calmed the winds and the sea, 
and called spirits from their graves, was now trem- 
bling, with the broken accents of supplication and 
prayer on His pale lips. He who for three years did 
such mighty wonders in all the land, whose fame 
spread abroad into all countries, was now recoiling 
from the possibilities of that hour. Yet He is resigned. 
" Father, not My will but Thine be done." 

Again and again He prayed. In the loneliness of 
His Soul, in the heaviness of His heart, in the desola- 
tion and gloom which His sufferings cast over Him, 
He came to His three most favored disciples, not once 
but twice, for that sympathy and help which He then 
so much needed and craved. Alas ! in the heaviness 
of their hearts, in the weariness of that hour, in the 
grief of their souls, they had fallen into deep slumber, 
unappreciative of His terrible suffering. What a grief 
this must have been to His heart ! As with many of 
us, He found them not watching, but sleeping. " He 
looked for some to have pity on Him, but there was 
no man, neither found He any to comfort Him." 
" He must tread the wine-press alone." 

But that kneeling and prostration, those groans 
and prayers, that agony of Body and Soul, are not 
all that we see or hear in the gloom of that hour. 
The " crown of thorns" had notyetbeen forced down 
upon His pale and death-like face; the sharp nails 
and spear had not yet pierced His flesh ; yet on His 
brow, on His garments, and on the ground beneath 



TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF LEXT. 171 

Him were the signs of a ' ' Bloody Sweat ' '—great drops 
ofblood. Oh! what must His inner torture have been — 
the torture of His Soul, to force from His sacred Body 
that " bloody sweat!" What unutterable agony, 
what unfathomable grief that must have been, that 
could release itself only in this most remarkable, most 
awful way ! Here, too, might He have said : "Behold 
and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sor- 
row." 

Thus the Saviour spent that hour in the shadows 
of Gethsemane. But the end came at last, and with 
it came victory. Treachery had done its work. He 
saw the lights of His pursuers in the distance ; yet a 
light "whose fountain is the mystery of God," shone 
upon His Soul, voices stole out of the chambers of the 
vaulted sky, and a form knelt beside Him like unto 
the form of God, and nerved Him with holy strength. 
He collects His disciples for the meeting. His Soul, 
awhile ago in great grief and excitement, is now calm; 
and in "meekness, whose divinity is more than power 
and glory," Hesays : "Rise up, let us go ; lo ! he that 
betrayeth Ale is at hand ; the Son of Man is betrayed 
into the hands of His enemies." 

Oh, beloved ! Should Gethsemane, with its awful 
but hallowed story, not be dear to us all ? Should it 
not find a well of love deep down in our hearts, for 
the victory that agonized struggle gained for us ? In 
our struggles, our anguish, we can go to Gethsemane, 
and, as well as human heart can, live over the terrible 
struggle and fearful horrors of that hour of our 
Saviour's Passion, and from it get an inspiration^and 
a blessing. 



172 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

" When heart is weary, 
When eyes are tear} r , 
Or life's way dreary, 

I seek the shades of Gethsemane. 
And thither straying, 
Believing, praying, 
I hear Christ saying, 
'Oh! Trust in Me.' 
Then with confession, 
And intercession, 
And new profession, 
Hopeful I press on, 

Oh, Christ, to Thee ! 
And feel Thy love more 
Sweetly than e'er before 
Stealing my heart o'er, 

In the lone shades of Gethsemane. 

" Charmed on this sacred ground, 
As dies each worldly sound 
In the deep peace around, 
Sweeter than rest is 

This spot to me. 
At thy foot, Olivet, 
Fondly I linger yet ; 
Think of His bloody sweat 

And agony ! 
Whilst with confession, 
And intercession, 
And new profession, 
Hopeful I press on, 

Oh, Christ, to Thee ! 
Saviour, Thy love more 
Sweetly than e'er before, 
Steals all my heart o'er 
In the sweet shades of Gethsemane.' 



THIRTIETH DAY OF LENT. 
Watching with Christ. 

Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the Master of the 
house cometh. — St. Mark xiii. 35. 

What, could not ye watch with Me one hour? — St. Matthew 
xxvi. 40. 

WE combine these two passages, the one a com- 
mand and the other an exclamation of sur- 
prise, as showing not only the weakness of three of 
Christ's disciples — the three of "the Twelve" who 
were nearest to Him in affection — under the most 
trying circumstances and the most awful moments 
of Christ's earthly life; but as showing our own 
plain duty in response to Christ's wish, and the 
weakness and unwillingness of our nature to obey in 
this as in all Christian duties that oppose the natural 
tendency of our hearts. 

The Master bade the three watch with Him one 
hour while He goes yonder to pray ; but instead of 
watching they sleep, though happily for them it is 
the sleep of sorrow. The Master suffers; they sleep. 
Such is the coldness and weakness of human hearts. 
For this has not only been once, and in the last sad 
scene of our Lord's earthly life; but it has often, has 
always been the case. While our Lord watches we 
sleep. While He suffers we give no heed. While He 
is in agony we are at ease. While He endures tor- 
tures we have pleasure. 



174 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

Let us question ourselves more closely. Let us im- 
agine our Lord in our midst, as indeed He is. Look 
upon Him and hear Him say : " Tarry ye here, and 
watch with Me." What is our inclination, our de- 
sire, our impulse? Hear Him say: "What, could 
not ye watch with Me one hour?" What can our 
answer be? Would it not in almost every instance 
be, " No, Lord, I cannot " ? 

And why ? Is it for want of grace to help ? Cer- 
tainly not. Is it for any unwillingness ? Perhaps so. 
To watch with Christ requires little of the head, but 
much of the heart, little mental effort but much lov- 
ing affection. We can do almost anything else but 
this, and we can do anything else much better. We 
can read a novel all day and all night ; we can pass a 
whole night in dancing, the whole previous day in 
preparing for it, and the whole next day in sleeping 
off the effects ; we can do wearisome or difficult labor 
without complaint ; we can spend hours at the con- 
cert or theater with unflagging attention, it matters 
not what the state of the weather ; we can spend an 
hour or more in any occupation of business or pleas- 
ure without weariness ; but to watch with Christ one 
hour, to spend one hour in prayer, or meditation, or 
worship, at Lenten services or other services — "No, 
Lord, I cannot — at least not often." We think the de- 
mand presumptuous; the mere thought of such a thing 
is full of heaviness and puts us to spiritual sleep. The 
three who first heard this exclamation of surprise, 
were excused with the words, "the spirit, indeed, is 
willing but the flesh is weak;" but this cannot be 
said of us. Our flesh is indeed also utterly weak, but 
our spirit is unutterably unwilling. We have no fer- 



THIRTIETH DAY OF LENT. 175 

vency of spirit, no earnestness of faith, no true devo- 
tion of heart. Our hearts are cold, our faith is dead, 
our devotions are weary, our affections are earth- 
bound. In short, we do not love God enough, and 
love ourselves far too much. We think not enough 
of God, and all too little of our relations to Him here 
and hereafter. We hide ourselves behind other people, 
and are fond of losing ourselves in a crowd. We de- 
light to say, "we have erred and strayed," but all 
notion of "I have erred and strayed" is foreign to 
our thoughts. We are fond of saying, "we have 
offended against Thy holy laws;" and in saying it 
we have, perhaps, some other's sins, great or small, 
in mind; but we think not of ourselves and say, "I 
have offended against Thy holy laws." We do not 
like to look upon ourselves singly and alone, which, 
however, one day we must when, in the nakedness of 
our hearts, we shall stand before the piercing Eye of 
God. And so we do not watch as we ought; we do 
not pray, we do not serve, we do not obey, we do 
not worship with that willingness and devotion, 
that fervency and zeal, which the Master requires of 
those who profess to be of His Household. 

But let us ask, what is it to be not watching — to 
be spiritually sleeping? We may be wakeful enough as 
to the things of this world, but unmindful and indif- 
ferent as to the next. We may be keenly active in 
this world's affairs, but wilfully ignorant and care- 
less as to the things of the next. We may be all eyes 
and ears in all that concerns our worldly success, but 
blind and deaf and dumb in all that concerns the 
soul's eternal happiness. We are sleeping, not 
the sleep of sorrow, but the mad and fearful and dan- 



176 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

gerous and deadly sleep of wilful sin. Sin has do- 
minion over our souls; sins of habit dwell, in our 
hearts, sins of character deform our being; and woe 
be unto us, if the Master of the house come now, 
come suddenly, and find you, or me, in this state! 
Yea, He is here, standing in our midst, looking into 
our hearts, seeing our spiritual sleep in the toils of 
sin, though He has bidden vis to watch, and has given 
us grace to watch with Him. What answer shall we 
give? Can it be that we cannot, will not watch; 
that we cannot, will not shake off these sins ; that 
we will not break these fetters that hold us to evil 
habits and wicked deeds ? Shall we say : " No, Lord, 
I cannot ' ' ? 

But to be spiritually a.sleep one need not be in wil- 
ful sin. We may be of good speech and conduct, of 
pure habits and excellent character, regular in our 
attedance at Church, and, perhaps, in our attendance 
at the Lord's Dear Feast, respected and loved by all, 
and still be asleep. How? Simply because there is 
too much worldliness in our hearts, and not enough 
heart in our religion ; because our affafrs of this life 
are of primary importance to us, the affairs of the 
next only secondary. We maybe earnest in spiritual 
things, but more earnest in worldly. We may take 
interest in our soul's salvation, but greater interest 
in the " piece of ground which we must needs go and 
see," or the "five yoke of oxen which we must needs 
go and prove," or the wife we have married. So 
that while we have interest and earnestness in a 
measure, we still have not enough to be wholly out 
of sleep and watchful as we ought to be. 

Who can tell when the Master of the house cometh 



THIRTIETH DAY OF LEXT. 177 

— at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing or in 
the morning ? He delayeth His coming, and that hour 
knoweth no man, nor the Son, but the Father. But 
when He does come, at death as at the Great Day of 
His Advent, it is a fearful thing to be found sleeping, 
a fearful thing to have lamps without oil, a fearful 
thing to be left by the Heavenly Bridegroom in that 
darkness and gloom into which we ourselves have 
gone. 

Again, let us question ourselves — let us look into 
our hearts, at our spiritual state; let us ask, were 
the Master of the house to come now, would we be 
satisfied with what He should find, satisfied with 
that state, satisfied with ourselves, with our feeble 
devotions, with our listless, heartless prayers, with 
our half-hearted service, our cold-hearted praise, our 
wandering thoughts, our dryness of spirit, our weari- 
ness and sleepiness ? Could we be satisfied ? 

If not — and I dare say none of us could be — then 
we must do as He bids, watch with Him, not only 
one hour, but always, and until our eyes shut to all 
things sinful and our hearts are filled with all the 
fulness of the Divine in the world that is to come. 

We must w^atch ourselves, lest we lag, or loiter by 
the wayside, sporting with earth's flowers on the 
brink of Eternity. We must set a watch over our 
lips, guard our ways, and make constant search of 
our hearts, without a thought of trouble or weari- 
ness, plucking up all bitter weeds in the heart, mel- 
lowing the soil by prayer, and nourishing " the fruits 
of the Spirit " with the dew of heaven. 

And we must watch for Christ, and watch with 
Him; watch for His coming as if He were already 

13 



178 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

here ; watch for His appearing as if we were already 
with Him. " We know not when the Master of the 
house cometh." " Watch ye, therefore/ ' " Blessed 
are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, 
shall find watching." But what if, instead of these 
words of blessing, we shall hear the exclamation of 
surprise, "What, could not ye watch with Me one 
hour ! " and the added words of sorrow and grief, 
because of our worldliness and sinfulness, "I know 
you not ! " " He cometh as a thief in the night," and 
"behold! He cometh quickly.' ' "The Lord direct 
your hearts into the love of God, and into the pa- 
tient waiting for Christ," so that it maybe well with 
you at His appearing. 



THIRTY-FIRST DAY OF. LENT. 

Betraying Christ. 

Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me . . . 
The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners .— S. Mat- 
thew, xxvi. 21, 45. 

IN the Upper Chamber, and during the Paschal Feast, 
our Lord was looking into a dark abyss that was 
yawning at His very Feet, and seeing the terrible 
storms of anguish that would that night sweep over 
them all. With pitying Soul He saw the last and 
fatal step of one of His Twelve ; and He longed to 
save by appealing, with a sop, to all that was human, 
all that was tender, all that was merciful and good 
in the heart of Judas. He saw too, how, in those 
terrible hours, one should deny Him, and be almost 
torn away from his Master ; how all should be scat- 
tered to the four quarters. 

With a lonely, sad, troubled, suffering soul ; with 
sorrow and anguish growing heavier and pressing 
more bitterly into His Heart; with thick darkness 
not only hanging over Him, but gathering within 
His Being, He said, " Verily I say unto you that one 
of you shall betray Me." Behold that Face as He 
utters this ; behold grief and love, human pain and 
divine majesty blending in His Features. Behold it 
as He looks out upon this group of wondering, horror 
stricken men — now upon John, then upon Peter, then 



180 SIN AND O UR SA VIO UR. 

upon James, then upon the others one by one, and lastty 
upon Judas. See the tear of mortal woe, the shudder- 
ing of His Frame, as His Eye rests upon this last one 
and He says : " one of you shall betray Me." What a 
fearful announcement to make to such a devoted 
band ! What perfidy ! What treachery ! One of these 
His own most intimate companions, who had receiv- 
ed His favors, w r ho had shared His secrets, who had 
been admitted to His friendship ; who were called to 
such glorious work, to such high honors ; who were 
to receive such vast powers, and such precious gifts; 
who, under the Spirit's guidance, were to be the 
founders of His Church, the foundation stones of 
that Divine Building, the princes of that spiritual 
kingdom sitting on twelve thrones ; one of these 
who now sat with Him at table, ate with Him the 
Paschal Lamb, — one of these should betray Him. 
David had long before said of this one : " Yea, Mine 
own familiar friend, in whom I had trusted, which 
did eat of My bread, hath lifted up his heel against 
Me." In mingled love and sadness, Christ makes 
known to the Twelve that this prophecy of David is 
about to be fulfilled, and fulfilled by one of their own 
number. One of you, " he whose hand is with Me on 
the table/' "he that dippeth with Me in the dish," 
"he to whom I will give the sop," "he it is that 
shall betray Me." 

We wonder not that they all became exceeding 
sorrowful and anxious ; that each of the Eleven, in 
conscious innocence of any thought of betraying — 
conscious only of intense love for their Master, yet 
with countenance o'er-spread with death -like pale- 
ness and fear, asked of Him, " Is it I ? Lord, is it I ? " 



THIRTY-FIRST DAY OF LEXT. 181 

A few hours later, we see a band coming up to- 
wards Gethsemane, of armed soldiers, and led by one 
of the Twelve. 

Let us imagine our Lord in our midst. Suppose 
Him here before us, gazing upon us with tender, lov- 
ing Eye, yet with a Heart breaking with sorrow. 
Hear Him again saying those words which so 
startled the little group of Apostles sitting with Him 
at the table. Hear Him addressing us with a voice 
trembling with emotion, yet filled with pity : " Verily, 
I say unto you that one of you shall betray Me." 
The words would astonish us, and call forth strong 
denials. Betray our Lord! Sell Him for paltry sil- 
ver or gold, and our birthright for a mess of pottage ! 
Give Him the hypocrite's kiss ! Deliver Him to His 
enemies to do Him harm ! Be the willing means of 
torture! Put Him to shame, to death! Have the 
mockery of heathen soldiers, the insults of a furious 
mob, the smiting and scourging, and, last of all, the 
crucifixion of an innocent, a sacred Being, blamed 
upon me, and have such crimes laid at my feet ! We 
deny and protest. But we hear a sweet, quiet voice 
say: "Even so, My son; one of you which eateth 
with Me shall betray Me." Not a stranger, not a 
known enemy, not one who w^as openly hostile, not 
one of those who had long plotted against Him and 
lain in wait to kill Him. From such a one it were 
easy to bear insult and harm. But not one of these. 
One of His "own familiar friends" should do this 
wrong; one who was intimately associated with 
Him, who had received His favor and His love, one 
that eateth with Him — such a one should be traitor. 

We begin to fear and tremble. Have not we eaten 



182 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

with Him ? Have not we knelt at His table ? Have 
not we received His Food ? Have not we received 
His favors, His friendship, His love? Have not we 
called Him our Lord and Master, followed Him for, 
lo ! these many years, been part of His Household, 
members of His Family, partakers of His blessings ? 
Can it be that He is saying this of us ? Can it be 
that ^ve are traitors to our Lord? And so we, too, 
begin to ask that little, but very important, question, 
' ' Lord, is it I ? ' ' Am I a traitor to Thy cause ? Have 
I sold Thee to Thine enemies ? " Is it I? " 

Why not you ? Why not I ? Have we lived such 
pure lives that we are above suspicion ? Is our con- 
science so clear that we find no lingering shadow of a 
former sin? Is our character so stainless that our 
bitterest enemies, with all their blackest arts, cannot 
even taint it? Remember even a St. Peter denied 
Him, and came near betraying Him ; why may not we ? 
Remember, also, that each of the twelve in fear asked ; 
"Lord, is it I? " And if one of them, why not one 
of us? 

Yet, however horrible, however fearful a thing it 
is, we do betray our Lord, and some of us, alas ! too 
frequently. One may be regular in his Church attend- 
ance, an occasional communicant ; yet in his daily life 
he may bring forth no fruits of godliness ; perhaps 
unkind or unforgiving in disposition; perhaps hard, 
covetous, or dishonest in business ; perhaps unchaste, 
passionate, or blasphemous in language; perhaps self- 
indulgent, or intemperate in habits ; in short, hemav 
be a Sunday saint but a week-day sinner. Such a 
one is simply a hypocrite ; and the kiss of the betrayer 
was the crown of hypocrisy. One who has God's 



THIRTY-FIRST DAY OF LENT. 183 

name on his lips, now in praise and then in blasphemy ; 
one who comes to the Sacrament with Satan in his 
heart; one who bends his knee one moment to God 
and the next to Mammon, comes very near the trait- 
or's kiss. Were such a one ever moved by conscience 
to ask : "Lord, is it I ? " he w^ould hear, if he listened 
for it, the same conscience give the quiet, reproving 
answer : " Thou hast said." 

Or again. One may be blameless in life, consist- 
ent in conduct, pure in speech, God-fearing and God- 
loving ; 3^et at heart too cowardly to confess Christ 
before men. He hears w r ords of evil and pretends 
not to be shocked. He listens to blasphemous 
language and sits idly by. He hears the saints 
ridiculed, Christian duties laughed at, Christian 
principles assailed and dragged into the dust; and 
he speaks not a w^ord in defence. He is a hypocrite 
of a different sort. He pretends not to be moved, 
not to be shocked ; and if he w r ere to ask the ques- 
tion, "Lord, is it I?" "he w r ould certainly receive 
the answer, "Thou hast said." His cow r ardly con- 
duct, fearing the w^orld too much to reprove it of 
wickedness, is selling his Lord into the hands of His 
enemies. 

So there are maijy other hypocrisies, many other 
ways of betraying the Master, many other cases 
that bear a fearfully strong likeness to the kiss of the 
Traitor. And they are not so very rare, either. We 
need not go out into the streets, nor into the low r est 
dens, to find them. Too often have we, even we, 
betrayed Him. Too often have we, by our indolence, 
our neglect, our lukewarmness, our indifference, our 
faithlessness, our selfishness, our worldliness, our 



184 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

hypocrisy, our cowardice, our covetousness, our tin- 
kindness, our passion, our evil words, sold Him to 
His enemies, delivered Him to the mob to be mocked 
and insulted, delivered Him to the Cross. Too often 
have we sent a pang of sorrow into His Heart by 
our inconsistency. The sins of Christians are the 
griefs of Christ; and we are of that number who 
grieve Him by numberless shortcomings and mis- 
deeds, of greater or lesser degree, but all betrayals 
of our Lord. 



THIRTY-SECOND DAY OF LENT. 

The Denial. 

He began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man 
of whom ye speak. — S. Mark xiv. 71. 

WHAT must have been, to our Lord, one of the 
saddest incidents in Holy Week, was the 
denial by St. Peter, one of His chief Apostles, one of 
His most trusted friends. He was the first to confess 
Christ, and yet the first to deny Him ; and deny Him 
soon after he had eaten with Him the Holy Supper — 
Sacrament of Unity and Bond of Fellowship. 

Let us recall the story ; and as we do so let us ask 
if it has not repeated itself often in our own lives. 

On the way to Olivet and to Gethsemane our Lord 
told His Apostles that u all should be offended be- 
cause of Him that night; " and that the " Shepherd 
should be smitten and the sheep scattered." Peter, 
as if stung by this want of confidence in his attach- 
ment to our Lord, said : " Although all shall be offend- 
ed, yet will not I." Our Lord looked into St. Peter's 
heart and saw what St. Peter yet knew not of. 
" Verily," said He, "this day, even this night, before 
the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice." 
But St. Peter "spake the more vehemently, If I should 
die with Thee, I will not deny Thee in any wise. 
Likewise also said they all." Deny Thee, Lord ! Deny 
Thee, whom I have confessed to be " the Christ, the Son 
of the living God ! " Whom I have so devotedly fol- 



186 SIX AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

lowed for three happy years ! Who has been my daily 
comfort, my hourly delight ! Whom I have served 
with willing hand and loving heart ! Behold, I " have 
forsaken all and followed Thee." Deny my Master 
and my Saviour ! — Even so. 

Our Lord predicted the incident; St. Peter pro- 
tested. Look now at the scene in the High Priest's 
palace. A maid approached and, seeing St. Peter 
warming himself, said : " Thou also wast with Him." 
Peter denied, saying: "I know not, neither under- 
stand I what thou say est." And the cock crew. 
Our Lord, with that Eye which saw the denial long 
hours before, saw it now realized. What a shudder 
it must have given His frame, now weak with fasting 
and weeping ! What a bitter pang it must have given 
His Heart, already torn with that sharp suffering 
and agony in the Garden ! Oh, what can the heart of 
man not bring forth ! Even the heart of His " most 
familiar friend ! " 

But another maid saw him again, and began to say 
to them that stood by: "This is one of them," and 
he denied it again. That Eye was still upon him. 
Again that frame quivered ; again that pale face 
moved with agony ; again the shaft pierced His Soul. 

But a little while after they that stood by said 
again to Peter : " Surely, thou art one of them." But 
he began to curse and to swear, saying : " I know not 
this man of whom ye speak." And immediately while 
he yet spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned 
and looked upon Peter. Significant was that look, 
reproachful and eloquent in the extreme ; and St. Peter 
understood it quite well, for he " remembered the 
words of the Lord, and went out and wept bitterly." 



THIRTY-SECOXD DAY OF LEXT. 187 

Our Lord's persecuting enemies, thirsting for His 
blood, could have poured into His cup of anguish no 
deadlier bitterness than these bold denials with cold, 
naked, perjured oaths to God and imprecations on 
himself. All the scourging, buffeting and spitting; 
all the mocking, cursing and insult by His enemies 
were as nothing compared with one of these denials 
by His disciple; and yet, instead of one there were 
three, and the last with oaths and curses. The an- 
guish of the condemnation, the humiliation and the 
shame, none of these, perhaps, burnt into His Heart 
so much as these denials by the chief of the Apostles. 
Of all the twelve, our Lord relied upon him- to 
strengthen his brethren ; and our Lord prayed that 
his faith fail not. Yet here, not long after that prayer 
was uttered; not long after St. Peter's vehement pro- 
fessions of devotion, his faith not only failed, but he 
denied that faith; and had not our Lord told these 
twelve, told St. Peter at a most solemn time : " Who- 
soever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny 
before My Father which is in Heaven." Oh, the bit- 
terness of that thought! 

Have you taken any of this to yourself? Have 
you seen 3^ourself in St. Peter's conduct? Have any 
recollections of past weakness come to your mind as 
we looked at St. Peter's denials ? and have you said, 
" Thus, also, have I done ? " 

Not thrice, but daily and hourly, have we denied, 
our Lord — you and I — in one way or another, in 
thought, word, and deed. By 4 ' blindness of heart, 
pride, vain-glory, and hypocrisy ; " by " envy, hatred, 
and malice, and all uncharitableness ; " through " in- 
ordinate and sinful affections, and the deceits of the 



188 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

world, the flesh, and the devil ; " by " false doctrine, 
heresy, and schism ; " by " hardness of heart and con- 
tempt of God's Word and commandment ; " by other 
44 evil and mischief" do we Christians frequently or 
constantly deny Christ, whom yet we profess to love 
and to serve. You and I hear the voice of the Bap- 
tist on the banks of the Jordan and in the wilderness, 
calling to repentance, for the Kingdom of Heaven is 
at hand; but we are not attracted by the sound. 
You and I rush out with the multitude, with "Ho- 
sannas " on our lips ; and the next day we cry " Cru- 
cify Him ! crucify Him ! " We join with Christ's fol- 
lowers when He is riding in triumph ; but thin the 
ranks when the cross is to be meekly borne. Our 
voices are heard loud in professions when professions 
cost us nothing ; but when theory is to be reduced to 
practice, we are offended at Him, and scatter. When 
He most needs disciples to confess Him before men, 
His professed friends and followers melt away. 
Many folio w His star when it promises blessing; 
few follow Him to the Mount bearing His reproach. 
You and I have shamefully denied Him, and often. 

But let us look again at St. Peter. He denied and 
fled. Out into the night he fled ; but not into a night 
of gloom, and remorse, and despair, as that other 
false Apostle. There were stars in that night; and 
so did stars of hope and promise shine into St. 
Peter's soul, — the brightest of all stars that Christ 
had prayed for him. He wept hot tears, but not of 
despair; tears of sorrow and penitence; and the 
Angel of Repentance led him back, heart-broken but 
steadfast in faith, to the feet of his suffering Lord. 

So with us, and with all for whom Christ died. 



7HIRTY-SEC0XD DAY OF LEXT. 189 

Even in our greatest sins Christ intercedes for us, and 
prays that we ma} r forsake our sins and live. When 
we have fallen, when we have denied Him, when we 
have fled from Him, let us think of St. Peter, and 
mingle our tears, confessions, and humiliations w T ith 
our prayers and Christian hope. Let us pray that 
the angel of grace fail us not, but may keep us stead- 
fast and fervent unto the end of our life and into the 
verv gates of death. 



THIRTY-THIRD DAY OF LENT. 

The Mockery. 

And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it 
upon His head, and a reed in His right hand: and they bowed 
the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying; Hail, King of 
the Jews! And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and 
smote Him on the head. — St. Matthew xxvii. 29, 30. 

GAN we ever fully realize what all this was to our 
Lord ? Let us to-day go back to that sad, sor- 
rowful, shameful scene. Three times was He mocked. 
Once in the High Priest's palace, in the presence of 
Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin; and mocked by His 
own people. "They spit in His Face and buffeted 
Him, and others smote Him with the palms of their 
hands/ ' These people for whom, He had done so 
many acts of kindness ; to whom He had given so 
many blessings ; to whom He had spoken so many 
words of encouragement; whom He taught, and 
loved, and healed, and pardoned; over whom He 
wept and for whom He prayed ; His own covenant 
people mocked, insulted, and maltreated Him. 

Caiaphas sends Him to Pilate, and there again is 
He mocked ; not by His own people but now by " the 
soldiers of the governor/' the heathen hirelings of a 
heathen ruler. They "put on Him a scarlet robe; " 
they crown Him with "a crown of thorns;'' they 
gave Him a reed "as His sceptre of royalty; "they 



THIRTY-THIRD DAY OF LENT. 191 

bow the knee before Him ; and they, too, " spit " and 
"smite." 

Pilate sends Him to King Herod, and again, a 
third time, is He cruelly insulted. He " with his men 
of war set Him at naught, and mocked Him, and 
arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him again 
to Pilate." One such brutal assault w-as not enough, 
nor two ; but, like the three temptations in the 
wilderness, and like the three denials by St. Peter, and 
like the trials before three different courts, He was 
mocked and maltreated three distinct times, before 
three different high officials, by three different bands 
of people. And these three times may not have been 
all, nor may the recorded means of torture have been 
all; for St. Luke says that "many other things 
blasphemously spake they against Him," and we 
may suppose many other things also did they unto 
Him. 

See how they ill-treat Him. See them lay hands 
on Him, and rudely pull and push and jostle against 
Him. See them uplift their clenched fists, and deal 
heavy blows upon His sore and weary Head and 
Body, and utter blasphemous words. See the ser- 
vants smite and buffet Him with the palms of their 
hands, and the soldiers scourge Him with a reed, 
and with the biting lashes of a whip, the blows fall- 
ing not on His Back only, nor on His Limbs, but on 
His Head and Face, as He stands with His Hands 
tied firmly to a pillar, a foul handkerchief blind-fold- 
ing His Eyes, until His Blood trickles and flows. 
See them strip Him of His garments and put a scarlet 
robe upon Him; plat a crown of thorns for His 
Head ; put a reed into His Hand for a sceptre ; bow 



192 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

the knee before Him, and hail Him King, mocking 
His claims ; and, most shameful and insulting of all, 
see them spit upon His sacred Person, and into His 
meek and holy Face — the Face which saints and 
angels have long time adored in ceaseless contempla- 
tion and wonder. Oh, to what depth of brutality 
and shame may man not descend ! Into what low 
acts of violence, into what degrading conduct, may 
man not fall ! What vulgar speech may he not utter ! 
What shocking deeds may he not do ! How debased 
may he not become in his soul, how depraved in the 
desire of his heart ! To what repulsive conduct may 
he not stoop ! Highest of all created beings, but a 
little lower than the angels, and made in the image 
and likeness of his Creator, and yet lowest and 
meanest, and vilest in conduct and speech ! 

And who is He whom they thus maltreat, and 
mock, and insult? What has He done to merit their 
indignation and scorn ? Passing strange — yea, pass- 
ing all understanding and wonder — He who is so 
rudely handled and so shamefully insulted is the 
" Maker and Upholder of all things visible and in- 
visible; " Son of Man, yet Son of God; the Lord of 
heaven and of earth, of men and of angels; their 
own Lord God, and ours. He certainly "made Him- 
self of no reputation" when He "was made in the 
likeness of men/' He certainly "humbled Himself" 
to the lowest plane of human life when He came 
among such as these. Having at His beck and call 
legions of angels to do His will, yet the prisoner of a 
hostile power, and the meek, uncomplaining, unre- 
sisting victim of an angry, dissolute, insolent, and 
vulgar mob. Lord of the living and the dead, whose 



THIRTY-THIRD DAY OF LENT. 193 

power is omnipotent, yet passive tinder the harsh 
usage of servants and soldiers. He whose Tongue 
uttered naught but love and blessing, and yet was 
" sharper than a two-edged sword," here was silent 
and speechless; " as a sheep before her shearers is 
dumb, so He opened not His Mouth." He whose 
Eye was overflowing with kindness and sympathy, 
and yet could strike terror into the hearts of Phari- 
sees, yet suffered Himself to be blindfolded by lawless 
and wicked hands. He who created and dwelt in 
eternal Light, and w^ho for awhile* covered Himself 
with that Light on the Mount of Transfiguration, 
yet here suffered Himself to be covered with the soiled 
garments of a low, brutish, mocking soldier. He 
whose Countenance w^as soft as the moonlight, and 
whose Face beamed with infinite love, turned not 
that Countenance from the sight of such shame, 
"nor hid that Face from spitting." Buffeted and 
smitten, "the plowers plowed upon His Back and 
made long their furrows." Bruised and beaten, He 
had indeed "no form nor comeliness, no beauty that 
we should desire Him." "His visage was so marred 
more than any man, and His form more than the sons 
of men." 

It is indeed a sad, a shameful, a disgraceful scene. 
Behold your Lord and your God " give His back to 
the smiters, and His cheeks to them that pluck out 
the hair." Behold Him dishonored and despised, 
trampled under foot of man, dragged in the dust, and 
" set at naught," as though He were the earth's curse 
or the filth of society. 

Yet it was so ordained, and so were the Scriptures 
fulfilled. Little did the mocking crowd think that all 



194 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

these things had a divine meaning. Little did they 
know that the scarlet robe was the most fitting gar- 
ment for Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords ; 
or that the crown of thorns symbolized that diadem 
which He had laid aside for awhile when He became 
man, and which He would take up again when His life 
of shame and suffering, of which this was an impor- 
tant part, was over ; or that the reed in His hand 
told of the sceptre of His Kingdom, which is a right- 
eous sceptre, and of His Throne which is forever and 
ever ; and bowing and saluting, they did not think 
that not only they but all men must adore Him, and 
that " every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and 
things on earth, and things under the earth, and 
every tongue confess that He is Lord." Unwittingly, 
unknowingly, unconsciously did they bear witness to 
the Truth; and in the lowest and meanest part of 
their mockery these mockers were prophets. 

But let us leave this amazing scene and come to 
ourselves. We have heard our Lord once say : "Take 
My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek 
and lowly of heart." We also heard Him say: "Ye 
shall drink indeed of My cup." Answer your heart, 
then, how do you behave when the cup of bitterness 
is offered you ; when you are smitten and afflicted, 
wronged and insulted ; when you are made to endure 
not the hundredth part of that which your Lord was 
made to endure for you ? How do you take it ? Even 
when unintentionally wronged or misunderstood we 
smart and resent it; and much less is the spirit of 
meekness and lowliness in our hearts when we are 
wilfully mocked and insulted. 

But this is not all . Not only is the exceeding beauty 



THIRTY-THIRD DAY OF LEXT. 195 

of God's grace of humility not in tis, but we often help 
the scoffing crowd to mock and debase our Lord. 
Witness much of your conduct and mine. Call to 
mind many of your words and deeds, and mine. They 
belie all our Christian professions, and put our Lord 
to an open shame. He blesses us, and we wrong Him. 
He gives us His grace, and we smite Him with our 
curses. We follow the crowd from the High Priest's 
palace to the Governor's Hall; mingle with the ser- 
vants, and take part with the soldiers; return His 
kindly look with an angy scowl, and call aloud for 
His daily crucifixion. 

Oh, that our hearts were humbled ; that the meek 
and lowly spirit of our Lord were in us ; that we 
were like unto Him at all times, in all things, but 
especially when persecuted, as He was, for righteous- 
ness' sake. 



THIRTY-FOURTH DAY OF LENT. 

Behold the Man. 

Pilate saith unto them, Behold the Man. — St. John xix. 5. 

WHAT means all this commotion in Pilate's Judg- 
ment Hall so early in the morning? Why this 
vast assembly of people — Scribes, Pharisees, Priests 
and common people, with eager yet angry faces and 
excited movements, mad with passion and religious 
hatred ? What do they here ? Surely no part of the 
Paschal Feast is to be kept in such a place; and a 
Roman governor is not necessary to a proper observ- 
ance of all that is prescribed. 

No. And this is perhaps the first time that the 
Paschal Feast was ever interrupted by such scenes and 
incidents, this the first coarse mob that ever unhal- 
lowed the holy season. 

Though, whatever else they do, they will not enter 
the Hall. That would be too shocking and defiling 
during this holy Feast. They must not, dare not, 
enter a heathen tribunal now. They must not defile 
themselves by contact with anything that is unsanc- 
tified. To accuse falsely, to procure false witnesses, 
to clamor for innocent blood, to induce a world-fearing 
Roman governor and politician to pronounce an iniqu- 
itous sentence, all this \\ 7 as no defilement — no sin ; but 
to go into Pilate's Hall they dared not. So they stand 
outside and shout, and surge, and clamor, and curse. 



THIRTY-FOURTH DAY OF LENT. 197 

The crowd near the entrance falls back, and a still 
greater clamor goes up from the hoarse throats of the 
multitude. We see Pilate within, surrounded by his 
soldiers, and just behind him the form of One whom 
we have seen before. But how changed is His appear- 
ance ! His face is deathly pale. ' ' A crown of thorns ' ' 
is on His head, its long, sharp prongs tearing His 
holy brow. " A purple robe " is about Him, put there 
by scornful soldiers to do Him mocking homage. They 
have buffeted, bruised and smitten Him with the palms 
of their wicked hands, and with a reed. They have 
"scourged Him' ' with the terrible lash. They have 
spit upon His mangled frame and into His bleeding 
face. Blood from the piercing thorns is flowing down 
His face and upon the purple robe. He is weak and 
shivering with pain and suffering; emaciated, worn 
out, insulted, weary. 

Pilate looks toward the crowd and, pointing to 
Him, says : " Behold the Man ! " What Man ? The 
prophet answers : " A man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief; "." He was despised and rejected of men." 
See His patient weakness ; see the tender, holy love in 
His Eye ; see that longing look as if beseeching for an 
answering love and sympathy. Can He indeed be 
One who ' ' perverteth the people ? ' ' Can He have done 
anything deserving of condemnation or death ? " Be- 
hold the Man," as Pilate points Him put to us. 

Is this He who "went about doing good;" who 
ministered to the needs and wants of all who called 
upon His Name; who wept over the sins of His 
people; who was never more like Himself, and like 
God, than when hearing and answering the prayers 
of sorrowful hearts ; who was "touched with the 



198 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

feeling of our infirmities" and came with healing in 
His wings ? Was it for this that He made the blind 
to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, the lame 
to walk; that He healed the sick, cleansed the leper, 
and raised the dead ? Was it for this that He taught, 
and wept, and prayed? — Even so. 

For did we not once, a few years before, hear 
another say : " Behold the Lamb of God which taketh 
away the sin of the world ?" Behold Him now, 
" brought as a lamb to the slaughter," "stricken, 
smitten of God, and afflicted; " and behold in Him, 
0, wondrous love! your Saviour and your God. As 
He looks out upon this maddened mob yelling for 
His blood, hear Him say : " Is it nothing to you, all 
ye that pass by : behold, and see if there be any sor- 
row like unto My sorrow." No, never any like His, 
and His was the sorrow of God. 

It is enough to melt any heart; and Pilate brought 
Him here, hoping at sight of His poor, weak, tortured, 
bleeding, almost dying condition, wholly innocent as 
He was, they would "repent them of the evil" and 
show sympathy and pity. But no. What flinty, 
stony hearts must theirs be ! For love they give Him 
hatred. He showed them kindness ; they despise Him. 
He went about doing good ; they return evil for good, 
and wish Him harm. Seeing Him only adds to their 
passion, and Pilate's appeal only awakes a fiercer 
clamor. From their howling throats, from their icy 
hearts, comes the cry, " Away with Him," "crucify 
Him, crucify Him ; " " His blood be on us and on our 
children." 

See the tear on His cheek as He hears these terri- 
ble words. See the trembling of His lips, the shudder- 



THIRTY-FOURTH DAY OF LENT. 199 

ing of His limbs, the heaving of His bosom, the death- 
like pallor on His face. Hear that heavy, sorrowful 
sigh. He looks out over the city of His father David — 
the city of His Father God — towards the Temple of 
the Most High, which lifts its magnificent walls high 
over Mount Moriah, and points its pinnacles to heaven 
as if invoking Divine aid or warning the people of God's 
wrath upon the evil-doer. He looks out over the peo- 
ple who are so dear to His heart, and yet so sinful and 
wicked . He thinks of His happy childhood days when 
He learned the prophecies at His Mother's knee, and 
of the work the Father had given Him to do, now that 
He was a man, in fulfilling the prophecies and bringing 
salvation to this city and this people. He thinks of the 
words He had said but a few days before, as, stand- 
ing on Mount Olivet, He looked over this same city 
and this same people : Oh, blessed city of My fathers, 
type of that which is above, " as an eagle stirreth up 
her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad 
her wings," so would I have "kept thee as the apple 
of My Eye, and hid thee under the shadow of My 
wings ; " "thou that killest the prophets and stonest 
them which are sent unto thee, how often would I 
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen 
gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would 
not." Buffeted, bruised, smitten, scourged, mocked, 
insulted, degraded, blasphemed, despised, rejected — 
was it for this that He was sent ; was it for this that 
He came ; is this the Father's will ; is this fulfilling the 
prophecies; is this salvation? "Behold the Alan," 
and see and consider if there be any salvation in Him. 
We are not the only ones who see as Pilate cries : 
" Behold." He also sees. As we see Him, He sees us, 



200 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

you and me, face to face and eye to eye. Blind-folded, 
yet out of the depth of His bleeding heart He sees . He 
looks to us for help. He appeals to us for sympathy. 
He pleads for our love. Past the power of saving 
Himself, yet even now, even yet He longs to saves us. 
But our hearts, too, are cold and stony. We are 
in sympathy with the mob. We are playing our part 
in the awful act. Our sins are laid upon His back. We 
crowd our iniquities into His very Soul. We wound 
His heart with our transgressions. We, too, have 
brought Him to this ; and we are among the loudest 
who shout, among the noisiest who clamor for His 
Crucifixion. Oh, think of your past life, and then 
think of Him. Lay bare the sins and follies of your 
heart, and then " behold the Man" in shame and de- 
rision, " an offering for sin," that you and I may not 
die the death of a sinner, but live in Him. 

Oh, bitterest of all suffering! Most wonderful of 
all love! that sorrows and languishes for our sins, 
and inherits the woe which we alone do merit ! There 
was no spot in our hearts by sin untainted ; yet He 
washed us clean within with that precious Blood 
which now runs down His bruised face and beaten 
back, which stains His purple garment and the tes- 
sellated floor beneath His feet. King of our hearts, 
let us ever bow the knee before Him. As our Saviour 
and our God, let us ever " Behold the Man," and find 
in Him rest for our wearv souls. 



THIRTY-FIFTH DAY OF LENT. 
Carrying the Cross. 

He, hearing His Cross, went forth into a place called the place 
of a skull. — St. John xix. 17. 

If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take 
up his cross daily, and follow Me. — St. Luke ix. 23. 

LET us take our thoughts back to the last morning 
of our Lord's life on earth. During the few 
short hours before the dawn of that day memorable 
events transpired. He had kept the Paschal Feast, 
and had Instituted the Sacrament of His Body and 
Blood. He had watched and prayed in Gethsemane, 
where, alone, in desolation and despair, agonized in 
mortal conflict with sin, the deep waters of sin rolled 
up to His Soul. He had been betrayed, hurried on to 
Annas, to Caiaphas, to Pilate, to Herod, and again 
to Pilate ; from indignity to indignity, from torture 
to torture, until we see Him now, in the midst of a 
dense throng of soldiers, and men, women, and 
children, from the Temple, the shops, the bazaars, 
the markets, and the streets. The clamor, " Let Him 
be crucified," had conquered the deeper feelings of 
Pilate; and, unrefreshed by food or sleep, His pallid 
Face bearing the blood-marks of the crown of thorns, 
His Back showing the long furrows of the lash, He 
was led to the Crucifixion " as a lamb led to the 
slaughter," bearing, according to custom, the weight 
of His own Cross. 



202 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

Can we, who are surfeited with ease and comfort, 
realize the shamefulness of the Cross, or the deep 
humiliation of bearing it? Everlasting Son, God 
Incarnate, Lord and Giver of Life, Creator of all 
things — even, of these men whose infuriated hatred 
cried out against Him and who hurried Him to His 
Death; He staggered under the weight of a Cross 
that was to bear His lacerated and bleeding Form. 
He, who came to the very lowest level of human life 
to redeem it, refused not this last and bitterest humili- 
ation. The procession moves out of the gate. With 
Him are two malefactors, also bearing each his cross. 
The people scoff and shout ; the soldiers urge them 
on; the women weep. But that Cross with the 
weight of human sin is more than He can bear, not- 
withstanding the Divine strength underlying His 
Human weakness. His Frame trembles, falters, 
faints. And yet He who so often put forth His Divine 
power in helping others will not help Himself; He 
who so often put forth His Hand in behalf of others, 
is silent and passive in His own extremity. Who will 
lift Him to His Feet ? Who will help Him with His 
Cross? — No one. There is none in all that multitude 
that will have pit\^ on Him ; they only mock and 
shout all the more. And as for His disciples, they 
have all fled; and He truly treads the wine-press 
alone. 

You say, perhaps, if you had been there you 
would have lifted the prostrate Form; you would 
have assumed, or at least shared, the heavy burden; 
you would have braved the scoffing mob, and 
given the strength of your body with the devo- 
tion of your heart to the poor and weary Man. 



THIRTY-FIFTH DAY OF LEXT. 203 

But you forget. The cross was a thing of scorn and 
reproach, of shame and disgrace; and instead of 
coming to the Sufferer's aid, we, more likely, would 
have been among those who scoffed. It was a 
loathed instrument of execution, and not the emblem 
of salvation that it now is ; and you and I would 
not have carried it then, for we do not carry the 
cross that is given us now. 

We all have our crosses ; and we must bear them 
daily, bear them willingly and cheerfully, if we would 
be true disciples, and follow 1 - after the sad, worn Figure 
of the "Man of Sorrows." There are large and 
there are small crosses, heavy and light, rough and 
smooth, rudelyformed and delicately finished. There 
are crosses of pain, and of sickness, of poverty, and 
of bereavement, and of sorrow, and of loneliness. 
There is a cross of bitter disappointment in one 
deeply loved; and a cross of living among people 
who cannot understand or feel for you. There is a 
cross of bridling the tongue and subduing the pas- 
sions ; of being useless to anybody ; of sacrificing 
happiness for the sake of another ; a cross in every- 
thing pure and good that the natural man must do 
or bear, laid upon us by the Master for our discipline 
and purification. But we fret under them, think 
them too hard or too heavy, grow weak and weary, 
and at last, perhaps, cast them aside. Christ has 
many followers of this sort. He has many lovers of 
His heavenly Kingdom, but few bearers of His Cross. 
He has many disciples who are desirous of consola- 
tion, but few of tribulation. He has many com- 
panions of His Table, but few of His abstinence. All 
desire to rejoice with Him ; few are willing to endure 



204 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

anything for Him. Many follow Him to the break- 
ing of Bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of 
His Passion. Many reverence His Miracles ; few fol- 
low the ignominy of His Cross. Many love Him so 
long as no adversity befalls them; many bless and 
praise Him so long as they receive any consolation 
from Him ; but if He hide Himself, or leave them for 
a little while, they fall either into complaining or 
carelessness, or backsliding and indifference. 

For our good let us think of only one thing that 
is often a heavy cross to us — going to Church. Often 
there steals into our hearts the thought or the wish 
to stay at home from Church when we might go if we 
cared enough about it. We think we cannot go. 
We are all worn out, and tired, and sore. It is im- 
possible to spend one hour in church; to watch with 
Christ one hour around His Altar ; to devote one 
hour to earnest prayer and anxious thought. We 
are, 0! so tired. Don't you think Christ was tired 
when He bore that Cross, and your sins, up the stony 
path leading to the top of Calvary? Don't you 
think He felt weary, and sore, and oppressed with 
the load your iniquities laid upon Him ? The sweat 
of His Face, the thorn-pierced Brow, the scourged 
Back, the lacerated Hands and Feet, all suffered for 
our deliverance from sin, show the anguish of His 
Soul. Yet — with shame be it said — we are often too 
tired, nay, too unwilling, to bear one cross for Him, 
to spend one brief hour with Christ in the common 
prayers and praises of His Church. 

Not only so, but some of us can spend all day 
Saturday, in the heat of summer, on a picnic, ending 
up in the evening with a dance. We*run, and jump, 



THIRTY-FIFTH DAY OF LEXT. 205 

and shout, and laugh, and play all day, without a 
thought of weariness. The whole thing is a pleasure 
to us, and we have what we call " a good time." We 
return home late at night sorry that it is all over, and 
hoping soon to go to another picnic or dance. The 
next morning is Sunday, the Lord's Day, the Day for 
Worship. But w T e feel too tired to go to Church ; or 
it is too hot to go ; or we find all sorts of other ex- 
cuses to keep from going. 

So one man prefers to read the Sunday papers, 
another takes a drive into the country; another 
swings in a hammock or sleeps away the blessed 
hours ; or w r e must look after that Sunday dinner — 
most important that we should, our god being our 
belly, you know- ; or one thing or another may tempt 
us, and w T e consider ourselves fortunate in being thus 
tempted, for we do not care to go to Church anyhow, 
and prefer to stay at home. The simple truth of the 
matter is, "the flesh lusteth against the spirit and 
the spirit against the flesh," and " the carnal mind is 
enmity against God;" and so there is too much 
" flesh," too much "carnal mind, "too much "natural 
man " in many who profess to be disciples and follow- 
ers of Christ. 

He w r ho bade us take our crosses and follow, also 
said: "My yoke is easy and My burden light." He 
also said: "Ye shall not be tempted above that ye 
are able to bear;" for "My grace is sufficient for 
thee." If we grow weary under our crosses, can it 
be because we have not given us sufficient grace? 
Hardly that. But rather, because we do not use 
God's grace in bearing the temptation, but fall into 
the temptation without a struggle against it or a 



206 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

thought of its sinfulness. We follow, indeed, as He 
bids us ; but at too great a distance. We come after 
Him, but with a faltering, halting step, and a weak, 
impatient heart. Let us bear our crosses for Him as 
He bore His for us — meekly, patiently, willingly; 
though it be too heavj r to bear, like His ; or the way 
be a way of sorrows, like His ; or the path be marked 
with blood stains, as was His ; or it lead to death, as 
did His. For beyond the cross lies the crown; and, 
as the chrysalis is changed into the beautiful butter- 
fly, so this life with its many crosses, all its trials and 
sufferings, will at last unfold into a life of unending 
bliss, if we follow after Him in true discipleship — if 
we stay close by Him, faithful and devoted to the end. 



THIRTY-SIXTH DAY OF LENT. 

The Sorrow. 

My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. — S. Alatthew 
xxvi. 38. 

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if 
there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow. — Lamentations i. 12. 

THE book of Lamentations is the most sorrowful 
of all books. It is one great cry of agony. It 
is as if " every letter was written with a tear," as 
if every w^ord had "the sound of a broken heart." 
The words are said of Jerusalem, and the City is the 
speaker. She hath grievously sinned ; wherefore the 
Lord hath afflicted her in the days of His fierce anger, 
and she mourns her wretched state. All that once 
honored her despise her, and laugh her to scorn. 
Everywhere she sees nothing but the mocking arrows, 
the scornful lip, and the sidelong glance. She hears 
nothing but the brutal laugh and the coarse word. 
And as she buries her face in her hands to hide her 
shame, the cry goes forth from her heart and lip : " Is 
it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and 
see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow." 

But we turn from the sorrowing and lamenting 
City, suffering for her sins and suffering in the depth 
of utter loneliness, to that sorrowful scene of which 
the City is a type, — that most wonderful of all scenes, 
the " Man of Sorrows " lamenting for the sins of His 
people in the very shadow of His Cross. 



208 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

Looking through the gloom of the Lenten Fast, 
our eyes meet those of One whose Face is wet with 
the hot and bitter tears of suffering; whose " visage 
so marred more than any man," shows the anguish 
wrung from His Soul by the sins of the whole world ; 
whose pale Face shows, in every scar and every line, 
that, by reason of the iniquity of us all, He was in- 
deed " a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief/ ' 
Sorrow trespassed upon His cradle when, hunted by 
a murderous king, He was driven into Egypt. Sorrow 
followed His footsteps all through life. And now He 
too, as the City of old, sees nothing but the mocking 
crowd, and hears nothing but the coarse word and 
the brutal laugh ; and from His trembling Lips comes 
the same pitiful and desolate cry: "Is it nothing to 
you, all ye that pass by ? Behold, and see if there be 
any sorrow like unto My sorrow." 

Ever since the Crucifixion of our Lord, has the 
Church tried to realize His sufferings. Especially in 
the Lenten Fast does the Church try to sympathize 
with Him in His temptation and sorrow and utter 
loneliness and gloom. The Church, by the Scriptures 
which she appoints to be read, takes us with our 
Lord into the wilderness to be tempted, into the 
depth of His humiliation, into the Upper Chamber, 
into dark Gethsemane, and then to the Cross. She 
makes us see the agony in the Garden, His bloody 
sweat, the betrayal, the scourging and buffeting, 
the crowning with thorns, the drinking of gall and 
vinegar, the driving of sharp nails into His Flesh, 
and the terrible suffering of the last hours of His 
Life. She makes us listen to Christ's predictions 
and warnings, to His prayers for His Apostles, 



THIRTY-SIXTH DAY OF LENT. 209 

to the groans and prayers in the Garden, to the 
formal accusation and the sentence of condemna- 
tion, the hollow mockery and brutal laughter, and 
the groans of His Passion. She makes us " behold 
the Man" in all His sorrow, and suffering, and deso- 
lation, and forsakenness. And we are then asked, 
yea, He Himself asks us, Are these — all these — noth- 
ing ? — are they nothing to you ? Do we behold with 
the tearful eyes of the Apostles and disciples, or with 
the unbelieving and merciless spirit of the mob which 
clamored for His death? Do we look upon Him 
face to Face, with the eye of faith, or with careless 
indifference? Have we that true, true love that 
speaks with Him heart to Heart and soul to Soul, or 
that hatred and that persecuting spirit of the Phari- 
sees and priests, that urged on the mob into frenzy 
and murderous madness ? Are these nothing to you ? 
" Behold, and see if there be any sorrow^ like unto 
My sorrow." See the greatness of His sorrow and 
suffering. "My Soul is exceeding sorrowful, even 
unto death." From His birth to His death, from the 
manger to the Cross, sorrow was the very hand-maid 
of the Son of God. He was born in a grotto-cham- 
ber, without any of the comforts of life, but with 
every indication of poverty and privation. A helpless 
Infant, a knife w r as uplifted for His slaughter, and He 
was hurried off by night into a foreign country to 
escape the blood-thirsty menaces of the king. Hungry 
and thirsty by day, he was homeless and shelterless 
by night. He had to look into the mouth of a fish 
for the money to pay His tax ; and slept on the hill- 
side beneath the clear blue sky because He "had not 
where to lay His Head." In privation and want, in 

14 



210 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

suffering and bitterness, He trod the path of humili- 
ation, knowing that it led to the Cross. This sor- 
row and suffering was rendered all the more acute 
by His contact with sin. What could have produced 
in His pure and perfect Soul, a more unutterable 
agony, than the exposure of the Essence of the 
Divine Life to all the wrongs, viciousness, baseness 
and degradation, moral and physical, all that is 
sensual, sordid, and selfish, mean, impure, and wick- 
ed, in man's heart; and to be exposed to this day by 
day, month by month and year by year? What 
could have wrung from His Lips more sharply that 
cry of pain and anguish, or what could have caused 
those bitter tears to flow more copiously, than the 
contact of His sinless Life with the sin of the whole 
world? Little is our sorrow compared with His ; and 
little do we know of all, yea, of any of the sufferings 
and the sorrows of His Life. How can we, to whom 
sin is second nature, experience -what it is for sinless- 
ness to be exposed to everything that is sinful and 
antagonistic? We can, indeed, behold and see if any 
sorrow was ever like unto His sorrow ; but there the 
measure of our life with His must end. Sympathy 
and pity must be turned into awe and adoration. 
More than that we cannot experience. Yet, great as 
His sorrow was — too great for our comprehension — 
is it nothing at all to us? — "is it nothing to you? " 
! that we should have listless ears when that pitiful 
cry comes to us ; that we should have eyes blinded 
by the w^orld when we come in sight of that saddest 
of all scenes, that most sorrowful of all ; that our 
faces should be turned away from our suffering 
Saviour when He appeals to us and says : "Is it noth- 
ing to you — to you — all ye that pass by ! " 



THIRTY-SIXTH DAY OF LEXT. 211 

There was another aspect of His sorrow which we 
must notice. It was great, but it was also utterly 
desolate. Was ever any man on earth so lonely as 
He? " He trod the wine-press alone. " " Behold, the 
hour cometh, yea, is now come, that 3^e shall be scat- 
tered ever\ r man to his own, and shall leave Me 
alone." He added, indeed, "yet, I am not alone, be- 
cause the Father is with Me." But there came an 
hour when the Father also veiled His Face from " the 
Man of Sorrows," and drew the shadow of perfect 
isolation across the Saviour's soul; an hour when 
He felt Himself forsaken not alone by His disciples, 
but even by God ; an hour when He saw not only the 
disciples pass out one by one and leave Him to His 
fate, but when He cried: " My God, My God, why 
hast Thou forsaken Me? " What a sense of desolate 
loneliness that must have been! " First the scrupu- 
lous Pharisees took the alarm ; then the Sadducees ; 
then the political party of the Herodians; and then 
the people;"* and when He came to His own for 
sympathy, they had " scattered every man to his 
own." " One denied Him; another betrayed Him; 
all deserted Him;" the Father also forsook Him. 
Could isolation have been more complete? Could 
loneliness have been more perfect? There, in the 
hands of His enemies, who thirsted for His blood; 
exposed to insult and mocker\^, and scourging and 
scorn ; in the depth of humiliation and the bitterness 
of suffering, He was left alone. 

All that great sorrow and desolate loneliness was 
caused by sin — by our sin — b}^ your sins and mine; 

* Giles. 



212 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

and it was endured for our redemption from sin. 
When thinking of the Cross, we too often forget the 
sins of the world that the Cross atoned for ; we are 
too apt to forget that it was our sins that He made 
His own, our sins that He carried to the Cross, our 
sins that shed His innocent Blood on Calvary, our 
sins that gave Him that sorrow and suffering. Did 
we think more of this, did we realize it more fully, 
the tremendous significance of the Cross would not 
only force itself upon us, but the Cross would possess 
for us far greater and lovelier attractions than any- 
thing on earth. We would see, as never before, some- 
thing of that infinite Love it sets before us, of the no- 
bility of that Love which could offer up its best and 
dearest for us — even the only -begotten Son of the Fa- 
ther. We should never be ashamed of the Cross, on 
which the Prince of Glory died, the Church's banner 
and the emblem of her Faith. And "we should keep 
ever fresh upon our brows the print of that same em- 
blem received in Holy Baptism," and realize that we 
are " crucified with Christ." And that Cross — em- 
blem of Christ's sorrow and suffering— should call 
forth in us more earnest devotion, more fervent zeal, 
and more steadfast faith. Did we think of our sins 
more than we do, the cry of our Saviour would not 
be uttered in vain; but we would desire to come 
nearer to Him, and, seeing the depth of His Heart, 
we would yearn to rise above the world and away 
from all sin, and to be folded in the embrace of His 
Everlasting Arms. Then would we repent us of our 
sins and be filled with love for such a loving, suffering 
Saviour — a love that should express itself in firm 
faith and perfect obedience all the days of our life. 



THIRTY-SEVENTH DAY OF LENT. 

The Desolation. 

My God, My God, look upon Me, why hast Thou forsaken Me; 
a.nd art so far from My health, and from the words of My com- 
plaint? — Psalm xxii. 1. 

WE may know something of the inner depth of 
our Lord's Passion by thinking of that sense 
of loneliness and desolation that came over Him as 
time went on, a desolate loneliness which, however, 
we are tumble to comprehend. 

But was He, though much with men, yet not 
always lonely? Cloudy and dark was His whole 
life, cruel in its loneliness, complete in its solitude. 
He was born in a strange place, and unexpected by 
the multitudes around. In His Infancy He had to 
flee from the murderous knife of the king. His earthly 
parents understood not His mysterious Life, "nor 
understood they the saying which He spake unto 
them." In all that multitude which He mysteriously 
fed, what soul was there that sympathized with 
Him, or comprehended the meaning of His act? 
Often they sought to stone Him; often they took 
counsel how they might kill Him. Never once did 
they give Him that love which He so bountifully 
gave them. Though "He came unto His own, His 
own received Him not." His own city would have 
cast Him headlong from the hill-top. When the 
darkness deepened around His life, one of His own 
Apostles betrayed Him. When He was arraigned in 



214 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

the High Priest's palace, one of His own Apostles 
denied Him with oaths and curses, saying, "I know 
not this man of whom ye speak." All who for three 
years had been His constant companions and inti- 
mate friends, " forsook Him and fled." 

Twice did the sense of deepening darkness, the feel- 
ing of increasing solitude, especially overshadow Him. 
Once in Gethsemane. But a few days before, by the 
tomb of His friend Lazarus, He prayed: " Father, I 
thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me, and I know 
that Thou hearest Me always." But when nowin 
Gethsemane He prays : " If it be possible, let this cup 
pass from Me ; " the cup will not pass away, and the 
Father seems not to hear. Strange and wonderful 
revelation is this. God the Father does not hear His 
Son ; does not remove this bitterness from His Soul. 
His Ear, that was always open to the deep sighing of 
the sorrowful ; that has always listened to the pray- 
ers of the Son of God, is deaf, and the Son must drink 
all the bitterness in that cup and empty it to the bot- 
tom. "When He looked for good, then evil came 
unto Him ; and when He waited for light, then came 
darkness," a darkness that was overwhelming with 
terrors and affliction. His very Soul is poured out in 
that prayer, yet God doth not hear Him ; His very 
Life is dissolved into a " bloody sweat," yet God doth 
not regard Him. He looked to the Lord for help, but 
the Lord hid His Face from Him and was silent. Oh, 
the intense loneliness of that hour! — the isolation, 
the solitude of that hour ! 

Again, on the Cross, was His Soul overcome with 
the sense of desolate loneliness. It was the strangest, 
" the darkest hour that ever dawned on sinful earth ; " 



THIRTY-SEYEXTH DAY OF LEXT. 215 

and there was a profound, mysterious silence. Even 
the blood-stained mob had forgotten their fierce anger, 
and waited in breathless astonishment. The heavens 
were shaking on their foundations, and the very God 
and Father, if we dare suppose it, feared and trem- 
bled for His Son. The pallor of Death was creeping 
over His Face, when suddenly, from His parched Lips 
were forced those loud, awful, startling words — ter- 
rible the voice and still more terrible the words — ' ' My 
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Can 
we believe it? Has the Son of God spoken truth? 
" Will the Lord absent Himself forever, andw^ill Hebe 
no more entreated? Is His mercy clean gone forever, 
and is His promise come utterly to an end for ever- 
more? Hath God forgotten to be gracious, and will 
He shut up His loving kindness in displeasure? M 
Oh, the blackness of those clouds that now drift over 
His Soul! — the overwhelming anguish that now, like 
an angry, mighty torrent, pours down upon His 
bruised and bleeding Form ! Light has entirely left 
His Soul, and hope has, for a moment, left His Heart. 
Has God indeed deserted Him now ? Has He indeed 
forsaken His Son? Has He indeed forgotten Him? 
Deserted — forsaken — forgotten ! Oh, bitterest words 
of human suffering ! Alone, and the powers of hell 
rage so fiercely. Alone, and the demons, with their 
fiery tongues, lick the foot of the Cross. Alone, and 
a myriad hellish hands are stretched forth to take and 
tear Him yet more cruelly. How Satan hounds on 
the spirits of evil in their fierce attack ! How he 
laughs as he thinks that at last — at last — the Son of 
God is in his most merciless power, a helpless Victim ! 
Alone, and forsaken — forsaken bv His Father! 



216 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

No ; the sensible consolation of His Father's pres- 
ence, the felt presence of the Trinity, had for one 
moment left Him. His sacred Humanity, for one 
moment at least, and to suffer the extremest limit of 
desolate woe, felt not the sustaining presence of 
Divinity in that crucified Form. But the Father was 
with the Son still, and led Him forth into " the valley 
of the shadow of death," and out again. It was only 
the overwhelming torrent of human sinfulness and 
misery pouring itself upon Him, that clouded for a 
moment the presence of Divinity , and forced from Him 
the cry of the forsaken. The weight of your sins and 
mine, the whole mass of the whole world's sin, lay 
upon Him ; and the sorrow and the suffering which 
this gave Him were more than His weak human 
Frame could hear, or His Soul could endure. And so 
He felt desolate and forsaken of God as He had been 
forsaken of men. 

And is this not hell itself? To be sunk into a flood 
of sin, to be surrounded, attacked, tormented by 
demons, to be deprived of the light of God's Counte- 
nance, what is this but a foretaste of outer darkness 
where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth — what 
is this but hell ? And He endured this loneliness that 
we might never be alone. He went down into most 
utter desolation that no soul, not even yours or mine, 
should ever despair. Yea, that in all paths of our 
feverish life we might see His own footprints, and 
feel His sympathy and help. Out of the depths of 
this most bitter woe comes His love — that love which 
caused Him, which forced Him, to endure all this for 
our sakes. That help, that sympathy, that love, 
makes darkness light before us and crooked things 



THIRTY-SEVENTH DAY OF LEXT. 217 

straight. When storms beat upon us, and waves 
roll over our souls, we see above us the Form of the 
Son of God ; and hear His voice saying unto us, as in 
the storm*on Galilee: "It is I, be not afraid." Oh! 
the comfort, the consolation, the bliss, as we feel the 
warmth of that Love and find ourselves safe in the 
Everlasting Arms. 



MAUNDY THURSDAY. 
The Death. 

He bowed His Head and gave up the ghost. — St. John xix. 30. 

WHY rushes out this living mass of humanity 
from the city ?— turbaned priests, the hoary 
seer, the Roman in his pride, the bridegroom and his 
bride, prince, beggar, soldier, Pharisee, old, young, 
bond and free, the lame, the blind, men, women, chil- 
dren, thousands, tens of thousands of the lower 
classes and the higher — and increasing in size as the 
minutes go by ; rushing madly on, hither and thither, 
past each other and over each other, like dark clouds 
in a fierce storm, or like foaming waves in a tem- 
pestuous sea; and shouting, yelling, blaspheming? 
What means it all? 

It is a glorious morn. The sun shoots higher and 
higher his warm, cheerful beams in the eastern sky. 
The Temple — minister of love and mercy — makes 
Mount Moriah appear more beautiful than ever be- 
fore. The fields, far as the eye can reach, seem happy 
with their green spring covering. Yet, here, coming 
out of the city and ascending the hill towards Cal- 
vary, is a furious multitude crying for blood. 

Still on comes the stream, out of the city, up the 
hill. But now we see in their midst One who is 
bowed down with grief, thorn-crowned, hand-cuffed, 
mangled and bleeding; and who seems to be the object 



MA UNDY THURSDA Y. 219 

of their taunts and curses, led on like a criminal and 
evidently sentenced to die the ignominious death of a 
slave. And through the tumult we hear the words : 
"Away with Him"—" Crucify Him." Who is He, 
and what has He done? Whom do they so rudely 
buffet and mock, and spurn ? Behold in Him who is 
thus led as a malefactor to die the death of the Cross 
the Son of God and the Saviour of men. 

The top of Mount Calvarv is reached and the 
word of Death is given. He is bound to the Cross, 
His feet against the ledge at the bottom, His hands 
against the cross-piece at the top ; and the long, 
sharp, cold, cruel nails are quickly driven into His 
quivering Flesh. With a mocking, scornful laugh, 
the Cross is raised with His body swinging upon it. 

Itis let fall with a thud into the hole dug for it. Oh, 
what agony in those hands and feet — what pain shoots 
through His whole body, as the heavy Cross comes 
down ! The crowd cheers, the soldiers bow the knee 
in mocking homage, Scribes and Pharisees and priests 
exult. All clench their fists, gnash their teeth, and 
laugh and curse. 

There stands the Cross, with its arms pointing 
upward and downward and to either side, as if in its 
muteness telling us of " the breadth and length and 
depth and height" of that "love of God" which "be- 
came obedient unto death, even the death of the 
Cross," that the sin of the world might be done away 
and man be "reconciled to God. 11 The Saviour's 
arms opened wide thereon as if longing to take not 
only this pitiless mob but the whole world, yea, you 
and me, into His loving embrace, and draw us and 
all to His Heart. 



220 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

Suffering, bleeding, dying, He bears the shame, the 
anguish of His Soul and the agony of His Body, 
without a murmur. No anger flashes from His Eye, 
no word of complaint, or of reproach, or of doom, 
escapes His Lips. He is meek, patient, good, and lov- 
ing to the last. See how His wounds blacken, His Body 
writhes, and Heart heaves with pity and with agony ! 
O, Almighty Sufferer, look down, look down from Thy 
triumphant infamy, from this Thy earthly Throne! 
Lo, He speaks — " Father, forgive them." — What, this 
cruel, wicked, bloody mob? Yes, " Father, forgive 
them," comes softly, sweetly from His feeble Lips. 
He inclines His Head to His sacred Bosom, and rests 
it upon His Father's Breast. Hark, He groans ! See, 
He expires! "It is finished," — all is finished; "His 
agony and bloody sweat," His " Cross and Passion," 
His Life, His Mission. The earth trembles, the sky 
darkens, The Temple rends, the rocks burst, the dead 
arise, the people are amazed and scatter in con- 
fusion. O, earth, earth, earth, darken thy form; O, 
sun, veil thy face because of this black and wicked 
deed ! "Say to the mountains, fall on us ; and to the 
hill scover us ; " for the only hope of Israel, the only 
sure Deliverer is dead ! 

Yet, Mystery of mysteries ! His Death was no 
loss to Israel, no end to all hope, no failure in that 
deliverance which He professed. He died, but it was 
through His Death that hope was to dawn upon 
Israel, and that deliverance should be made perfect. 
"Thus it behooved Christ to suffer, "and to die. Thus 
was the ransom paid for our deliverance. Thus was 
the pledge given for our salvation. " I, if I be lifted 
up, will draw all men unto Me," said He. And here, 



MAUNDY THURSDAY. 221 

and now, is He lifted tip, as the serpent in the wilder- 
ness was lifted tip; and, as all who looked upon the 
serpent lived, so here and now, all who look to the 
Son of Man and believe, shall be saved. 

He died, and yet He lives ; and we live in Him. He 
was removed from us, lifted up upon a higher and 
more enduring Throne than this His Cross ; and yet 
He is ever with us. On that first Holy Thursday, in 
the "Upper Chamber/' He instituted a Memorial of 
His broken Bod\^ and shed Blood, that all His 
disciples and servants might partake of Him and be 
filled. Calling His Omnipotence to aid His infinite 
Love for man, He concealed Himself in Bread and 
Wine ; and ordained that, so long as a single drop of 
Adam's blood, sinful and sinning, shall flow upon 
earth, He should be held captive here, in this Sacra- 
mental means and Mystery Divine, and be ever present 
with us for our health and refreshment, while yet He 
is in glory at the right hand of God His Father. 

In the Eucharistic Sacrifice, both He and we 
offer unto the Father, — He in intercession, we in 
sacred symbols, showing "the Lord's death till He 
come." In this Sacrifice He dies, as He died on the 
Cross ; yet as on the Cross in the midst of death He 
still lived, so in this, in the very commemoration of 
His Death, He gives us His life. He not only gave 
His Life for us, but He gives it to us, and gives it in 
us ; so that wholly and forever " He may dwell in us 
and we in Him." He dies and He lives ; He dies once 
for all and lives forever, — lives in His Sacraments, in 
His Word, in His Ministry, in the hearts of His 
people. 0, blessed Mystery! 0, meritorious Death! 
0, perfect Life! God Himself hath appeared in the 



222 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

Flesh, offered Himself an oblation for the sins of His 
people, atoned for them by shedding His own Blood, 
plead with God for them, and hath gone up into the 
true Sanctuary, "the heavenly place not made with 
hands/ ' interceding for us by a continued presenta- 
tion of His sacrificed humanity before the Father, 
openly in heaven, here veiled in Sacramental Mys- 
tery, till He hath " perfected for ever" all "them 
that are sanctified." Feeding on this mystery we 
live in Him and He manifests Himself to us, until, 
the veil drawn aside, we shall see Him "Face to 
face" and "know Him even as we are known" of 
Him. 



GOOD FRIDAY. 

The Passiox. 

My Heart is sore afraid within Me, and the terrors of death 
are fallen upon Me. — Psalm lv. 4. 

WHAT in all the earth is so wonderful as a suffer- 
ing God? Let us look upon this awful scene 
for a while; we did so yesterday, but with a view to 
the relation of His Death to His Holy Sacrament ; let 
us now think, if we can, of the Death itself. 

It is nine o'clock, Friday morning, the 7th of April, 
in the year 30 A. D. In obedience to the wild clamor 
of the people, Pilate, unwilling to offend them, sur- 
renders the innocent Christ into their cruel and 
wicked hands. They have done their bloody work 
in the barracks of the Castle, have buffeted, scourged, 
mocked, spit upon, lashed, and insulted Him; and 
now the wild procession moves towards Calvary for 
the Crucifixion. TVe see them coming. In front is a cen- 
turion, the chief executioner. Then follows a soldier 
carrying a board on which is a peculiar inscription in 
the three civilized languages — Roman, Greek, and 
Hebrew. Xext come four soldiers with hammer and 
nails; and between them a meek and lowly One 
whom we have often seen before, carrying, according 
to custom, the Cross on which He is to suffer. Then 
follow "two malefactors," each guarded by four sol- 
diers, and each carrying his cross. And behind, a 
vast multitude, in wild confusion, pressing, and howl- 



224 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

ing, and cursing, as they move along, and ever grow- 
ing in numbers and becoming more clamorous as 
time flies. 

Near by we see weeping women. What do they 
in such a crowd ? Oh, mercy, Lord ! They are Mary, 
the Mother of Jesus, and the other two Marys, and 
other "women of Galilee, comforting with their pres- 
ence and cheering with loving words the weary and 
wounded Son of Man and His Virgin Mother. 

But the Cross is too heavy for His strength, al- 
ready made weak by His long agony in the Garden, 
and by His bitter treatment at the hands of His ene- 
mies. See, He falls. Another takes it and bears it 
for Him. " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall 
obtain mercy ;" and the mercy which the Cyrenian 
showed was no doubt blessed from heaven. 

They come to Calvary and halt. The crowds 
press and surge around on all sides, and yell and 
blaspheme. " Away with Him!" " Crucify Him! " 
say they all. Why is He so patient and unresisting, 
who yet for three years past has shown Himself pos- 
sessed with Divine power! Why does He not call 
forth from the heavens above that help which at all 
times was His, and which now could save Him to 
the uttermost! But His very weakness seems to 
say, " Lo, I came to do Thy will, Lord ; " and this 
— this is the will of God. 

Watch their preparations. They are deliberate, 
yet their flashing eyes show a thirst for blood. They 
lay the Cross on the ground, pick up the Son of 
Mary, two at His Head and two at His Feet, and 
lay Him down upon it. With strong thongs they 
pinion His Arms and His Feet to it, shouting, and 



GOOD FRIDAY. 225 



laughing, and blaspheming all the while. One picks 
up the hammer, the others the nails — a heavy ham- 
mer that can do deadly work, and long, sharp, cruel 
nails. Oh, that men can have hearts to do such 
work! — that men can be so cold, stom^, and brutal, 
and wicked! The nail is held in position on one 
Hand, and the hammer swings high in mid-air. 
When it falls — Oh, merciful Father, why sparest not 
Thou Thy Son ! It does fall, and but once, upon that 
nail on His Hand. Once is enough. It is driven 
through the quivering Flesh and into the wood. 
Xow the hammer begins to beat measured strokes 
upon the nail, until it is firmly fixed on the arm of 
the Cross. Oh, the pain, and the suffering, and the 
torture, as the hammer falls and the nail sinks. Now 
might He have looked to His Father, and breathed 
the prayer of David, "0 go not from Me, for trouble 
is hard at hand, and there is none to help Me." 

But they have only begun their work. They drive 
a nail also into the other Hand, and into His crossed 
Feet ; and with each blow of the hammer He suffers 
excruciating agony. His blood flows freely from the 
four wounds, and from the thorn-pierced Brow, and 
from His lacerated Back. The ground beneath Him 
is stained with His precious Blood, and still it is 
flowing from Him. They nail the board with its in- 
scriptions at the head of the Cross, and raise it with 
its living — nay, its dying Mass swinging upon it. 
What pangs of torture rush through His Body as He 
feels His weight upon the nails ! Sensitive to every 
pain — far more sensitive than most men are — He 
feels in every nerve of His Body the bitterness of His 
suffering. God — " My God, why hast Thou for- 



226 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

saken Me, and art so far from My health, and from 
the words of My complaint? 0, My God, I cry in 
the day time, but Thou hearest not. I am the very 
scorn of men, and the outcast of the people. All 
they that see Me laugh Me to scorn : they shoot out 
their lips, and shake their heads, saying, He trusted 
in God, that He would deliver Him : let Him deliver 
Him, if He will have Him." " They gape upon Me 
with their mouths. I am poured out like water, and 
all My Bones are out of joint. My strength is dried 
up like a potsherd. They pierced My Hands and My 
Feet; I may tell all My Bones/ ' With curses on their 
lips, "they stand staring and looking upon Me." 
His enemies speak evil of Him and say, "He saved 
others, Himself He cannot save ; " if He be the Son of 
God, as He says He is, "let Him come down from the 
Cross, and we will believe Him." They despised not 
only His pretensions and rejected His claims, but 
made Him a Man of sorrows, and loaded His Soul 
with grief. They maltreated Him ; they reviled Him ; 
they turned away their faces with sarcastic sneers. 
They esteemed Him not for His moral worth, nor for 
His endlessly forgiving and loving disposition, nor 
for His power over nature, and over disease, and 
over sin. Upon His unoffending Head fell the conse- 
quences, the curses, of our sins. They wounded — 
yea, pierced Him; they bruised — yea, crushed Him; 
and yet, here, on the Cross, as always, there was 
peace and there was love looking out of His Eye. 

For three hours have they waited, and said, 
"When shall He die, and His Name perish? " Three 
long hours of horrible agony to our Lord. Weary 
of watching, and impatient, a soldier pierces His Side 






GOOD FRIDAY, 227 



with a spear. Four wounds were not enough to sat- 
isfy this brutal mob. The inexpressible suffering 
which they caused Him was not enough to content 
them. Once more must they see His Body writhe in 
pain ; and the spear furnishes the horrible spectacle. 
But He is too weak now to mind the thrust. His 
Blood is trickling, and His Life is fast ebbing away. 
His Eyes grow dim, as in the shadows of the evening 
hour. All the waves and storms go over His Soul, 
and still the enemy oppresses Him; but He minds 
them not now. At last His Head falls on His 
bosom, and His Soul wings its flight. With 
one great, long, loud, fierce, exultant shout, the 
mob disperses to the city and to their homes, leaving 
the body of their Saviour, and yours and mine, hang- 
ing in dim outline against that sudden and more 
than midnight darkness. 

My friends, one word more. As we see Him hang- 
ing there, His sufferings ended and His sorrows over, 
let us learn that He sanctified suffering for us. Think 
what our sufferings would have been for our sins had 
He not suffered for us. Think of the agony which He 
has spared us by suffering it all Himself. And then 
how dare we turn against Him and crucify Him afresh 
by our misdeeds ! How dare we refuse to love and 
serve Him who has thus loved and served us, and 
brought righteousness and redemption ! Oh, let us 
from this day forth "walk worthy of the vocation 
wherewith we are called ; " and then in every sorrow 
we shall see light, and every joy shall be a foretaste 
of heaven. 



EASTER EVEN. 

In Paradise. 

There remaineth, therefore, a rest for the people of God. — He- 
brews iv. 9. 

AFTER many, many days of tossing on the waters 
of the flood, and being driven hither and thither 
by the angry winds, in darkness, the only object to be 
seen on the face of the earth, at length "the Ark 
rested ." So our Lord, after a life of toil and suffering, 
especially in its latter end, when His Soul went out 
on the Cross, rested in peace on His Father's Breast. 

All is " finished, " as He said. Not only His Life, 
but His Work — the work the Father had given Him 
to do ; not only the brutal treatment of His enemies, 
but His sorrows and sufferings, all are finished . i i Mes- 
siah is cut off," "cut off out of the land of the living," 
' ' but not for Himself. ' ' Whither He went His enemies 
cannot come; cannot mock, buffet, spit upon, insult, 
bruise, scourge, smite Him ; cannot crown Him with 
thorns, or pierce His Flesh with nails. All this is over, 
and ended forever. His weary Body lies in the peace- 
ful rest of the tomb ; His Soul is in the Paradise of 
God. 

But what is Paradise ? It is a garden of delight ; 
Abraham's bosom; the vestibule of our "Father's 
house;" the blissful abode of all "departed spirits," 
who, dying in the Lord, looked forward to their 
"perfect consummation and bliss, both in body 
and soul, in eternal and everlasting glory." It is the 



EASTER EVEN. 229 



park around the King's Palace, where the King loves 
to gather His people. It is the place where the dying 
thief met his Saviour, and where he now dwells with 
Him in the fuller glory and happiness of the saints in 
light. 

More than this we know not. When we think of 
Paradise we seem to go entirely beyond our depth. It 
seems so vague and shadowy. It seems so distant, 
and wonderful, and mysterious, and dim, and vast, 
and strange. Yet thither our Saviour went, and there 
all who " desire to depart and to be with Christ " will 
meet Him . He is preparing some of those i i mansions ' ' 
for us. And when we get there it will not be so vague 
and shadowy as it now appears to our untaught 
minds to be, though it will still be vast and wonderful. 

We look upon death with some degree of terror, 
and on the grave as a lonely place. But Christ did 
not find it lonely ; neither shall we. Paradise has 
many grand sights and sounds ; it has many blessed 
spirits whom we have loved here and lost awhile. 
To meet these and to be with them for ever ; to talk 
with them again and to see their unbroken happiness; 
to feel again the warmth of their love, and be thrilled 
again by a touch of their hands, this, if this were all, 
would be enough for our everlasting happiness. 

But this is not all. It has a glorious company of 
redeemed souls, gathered out of all lands. There is 
"the glorious company of the Apostles, the goodly 
fellowship of the Prophets, the noble army of Mar- 
tyrs ;" the holy men and women of the Old Testa- 
ment and of the New ; all the pious and saintly souls 
that have peopled the centuries, and who, like a 
mighty host, are gathered around the Throne and 



230 SIN AND OUR SAVIOUR. 

are singing the praises of " the Lamb that was slain/ ' 
These all are in Paradise. 

But better company than these will we meet there. 
There, in unapproachable Light, will be God our 
Father, who has loved and forgiven us ; God the Son, 
who has redeemed us ; God the Holy Ghost who 
Sanctifies us. God is everywhere; but He is here 
with especial fulness of glory, and we will see Him 
here in ever newer revelations of love and blessing. 
And this will be Paradise. 

Into this abode, "this better country, that is an 
heavenly/ ' our Saviour and the penitent thief went 
after death ; and it was to them a place of rest. So 
it will be to us. 

Think of the security of that rest. Here the holi- 
est among us have temptations and trials, sorrows 
and anguish. They know not what a day may bring 
forth. Their "going out" may be unto suffering; 
and their " coming in " maybe the last. Man " fleeth 
as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one 
stay." The life of the body and the life of the soul 
are alike tempted and pained. But in Paradise there 
will be no more temptation or suffering. The sense 
of security that will steal over the soul, as we wake 
up in the likeness of Christ, will be a thousand times 
intensified when we see Christ Himself by our side. 

But think also of the happiness which comes with 
that rest — a happiness which comes with a clearer 
vision of God. " Now, we see through a glass darkly ; 
but then, face to face. Now, we know in part; but 
then shall we know even as we are known." And, 
oh, the bliss of one brief glance at our Saviour's 
Face ! To know that we are no longer in the dark 



EASTER EVEN. 231 



valley, and need no longer His rod and His staff, but 
that now we are in safety " with Christ ; " to feel the 
comforting assurance of His power; to have a 
blessed, restful confidence in His tender love ; to hear 
His gracious words; to look upon His Face — His 
thorn-pierced Face — and see with our own eye the 
Love that redeemed us — surely there can be no bliss 
like this. And this is the bliss of Paradise. 

Once more think that our Lord w r ent into the rest 
of Paradise to secure it especially for us — for you and 
for me. It is our own. It awaits us at death. It 
awaits all those w^ho are members of Him. In that 
day, when heaven and earth shall sink aw^ay, and a 
new heaven and a new earth shall come forth ; when 
His elect are numbered; then, borne on His Bosom 
and tinctured with Holy Blood, we shall soar from 
this tranquil bower into the higher rest of the Heaven 
of heavens. 

" Paradise, Paradise, 

Who doth not crave for rest ? 
Who would not seek the happy land 

Where they that loved are blest; 
Where loyal hearts, and true, 

Stand ever in the light, 
All rapture, through and through, 

In God's most holy sight ? 

" Lord Jesus, King of Paradise, 

0, keep us in Thy love, 
And guide us to that happy land 

Of perfect rest above ; 
Where loyal hearts, and true, 

Stand ever in the light, 
All rapture, through and through, 

In God's most holy sight." 



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